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Epochs of Modern History 

EDITED BY 
)WARD E. MORRIS, M.A. & J. SURTEES PHILLPOTTS, B.C.L. 



THE FALL OF THE STUARTS AND 
WESTERN EUROPE 



REV. E. HALE, M.A. 



LONDON : PRINTED BY 

SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW -STREET SQUARE 

AND PARLIAMENT STREET 



THE 



FALL OF THE STUARTS 



AND 



WESTERN EUROPE 

FROM 1678 TO 1697 



BY 

/ 

THE REV. E. HALE, M.A. 

ASSISTANT-MASTER AT ETON 



1- 

WITH MAPS AND PLA 



BOSTON r^ 
ESTES AND LAURIAT 

CHICAGO 
JANSEN, McCLURG, & CO. 

SAN FRANCISCO 
PAYOT, UPHAM, & CO. 

1876 




/ 1/ 6 



PREFACE. 

-2/ 



This little sketch is intended to form an easy 
ntroduction to the study of the period. Those who 
have not taught the young themselves will hardly 
know how difficult it is to make such an introduction 
sufficiently easy and simple. 

It is to be hoped that the reader will supplement 
Lis meagre outline of a great 'epoch.' He will 
jiaturally turn first to Lord Macaulay's 'History of 
vUgland,' and his Essay on Sir W. Temple. At the 
same time he will do well to study carefully Hallam's 
^Constitutional History,' chapters 12 — 15. For con- 
temporary writings, Burnet's ' History of his Own 
Times,' and the rich mine of Evelyn's Memoirs are 
readily accessible. 

To these should be added Ranke's ' History of 
the Seventeenth Century,' vols. 3 — 6 (lately translated) ; 
for Continental history, H. Martin's ' Histoire de 
France,' vols, 13 and 14 ; for religious history, Prin- 
cipal Tulloch's 'Rational Theology in England in 



vi Preface. 

the Seventeenth Century ; ' for military details and 
plans of battles in the Netherlands, there is much to 
learn from Sir F. Hamilton's ' History of the Grena- 
dier Guards/ to which I wish to express my own 
obligations, as also to my friend and late colleague, 
the Rev. William Wayte. 



Eton College, March 1876. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

PAGE 

1678. Wars of Europe in the first half of the 17th century . i 
Peace of Nimwegen, 1678 ... 3 
Lewis XIV. and France, 1678 . . .5 
The United Provinces and William of Orange, 1678 14 
Germany and Spain, 1678 . . . .16 

CHAPTER n. 

ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 

England in 1678. Discontent . . '17 

Danby and Shaftesbury .... 19 

The Popish Plot . . . . ,20 

Fall of Danby ..... 25 

1679. Third Parliament of Charles H. Habeas Corpus . 27 
Whigs and Tories . , . . 31 
jV[eal-tub Plot . . . . -34 
Conventiclers in Scotland. Bothwell Brigg . 35 

CHAPTER HI. 

FOURTH AND FIFTH PARLIAMENTS OF CHARLES. — 
STATE TRIALS. 

1680. Exclusion Bill . . , . .40 
Lord Stafford ..... 42 

1681. Oxford Parhament, 1681 . . . -43 
Charles H. and the Whigs ... 44 
Archbishop Plunket . . . . -45 
Stephen College ..... 47 
Shaftesbury indicted . . . . .48 



viii Contents, 

CHAPTER IV. 

SCOTLAND IN 1680 AND 1681. 

PAGE 

1680-81. The Cameronians . . . . -49 

168 1. The Scotch Parhament and Argyle . » 51 

CHAPTER V. 

ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND FROM 1682 UNTIL THE 
DEATH OF CHARLES II., 1685. 

1682. William of Orange, James Duke of York, and the 

Duke of Monmouth .... 53 

1682-83, Attacks on the Charters of the Corporations . 55 

1683. Rye House Plot . , . o . 57 

1684. Duke of York reinstated in office . . -63 

1685. Death of Charks n. .... 64 

CHAPTER VI. 

LEWIS XIV. AND FRANCE TO THE REVOCATION OF 
THE EDICT OF NANTES, 1685. 

1678-81. Chambers of Reunion . . , •67 

1681-84. Ambition of Lewis XIV. .... 69 

1675-85. The Huguenots and Revocation of the Edict of 

Nantes . . . , . • 71 

CHAPTER VII. 

ACCESSION OF JAMES II. OF ENGLAND. 

1685. The Policy of James on his Accession . . 76 

James II, and Lewis XIV. ... 78 

Parliaments in England and Scotland . . 79 

Trials of Gates, Dangerfield, and Baxter . 82 

CHAPTER VIII. 

REBELLIONS OF ARGYLE AND MONMOUTH. , 

The Refugees in Holland . . . '83 

Expedition of Argyle .... 86 

Expedition of Monmouth . . . .89 

The Bloody Assize . - • 97 



Contents. ix 



CHAPTER IX. 

FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY OF JAMES II. 

PAGE 

1685. Second Session of the Parliament of 1685 . . 98 

1686. League of Augsburg .... 100 
Home Policy of James, 1686. Dispensing Power . 102 

1687. James and the Universities . . , 106 
The Autumn of 1687 . . ... 109 

CHAPTER X. 

IRELAND UNDER JAMES II. 

1660-85. Preliminary Sketch of Ireland . . .110 

1685. Ireland at the Accession of James II. . . 112 

1686-87. Clarendon and Tyrconnel . . . • 1^3 

1-687. Tyrconnel as Lord Deputy of Ireland . , 114 

CHAPTER XI. 

WILLIAM, LEWIS, AND JAMES, 1687-88. 

William corresponds with the Disaffected in Eng- 
land . . . . . .116 

October 1687 . , . . .118 

1688. Trial of the Seven Bishops .... 119 

Invitation to William .... 123 

James after the Acquittal of the Bishops . -125 

Lev^'is XIV. declares War against the Emperor 126 

Proclamation of William . . . .128 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE REVOLUTION. 

William in England . . . . -131 

Progress of the Revolution . . . 133 

Lord Churchill . . . . -134 

Attempt of James to fly . . . . 135 



X Contents. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE INTERREGNUM. 

PAGE 

1688. James leaves England .... 139 

1689. The Convention ..... 142 
The Revolution in Scotland .... 144 

1688-89. The Revolution in Ireland . . . 146 

Devastation of the Palatinate by Lewis . . 147 

CHAPTER XIV. 

FIRST YEAR OF THE REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 

1689. William's first Ministers .... 149 
The Nonjurors and Proceedings in Parliament 151 
Scotland in 1689. Killiecrankie . . . 156 
Ireland in 1689. Londonderry . . 159 

1689-90. The Grand Alliance. .... 167 

CHAPTER XV. 

WILLIAM III. AND IRELAND. 

1690. The English Parliament in 1690 . . . 168 
Victory of the Boyne .... 171 

Lord Torrington . ... . . 176 

William leaves Ireland .... 178 

Marlborough in Ireland .... 180 

Campaign in the Netherlands, 1690 . . 181 

CHAPTER XVI. 

PACIFICATION OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 

1691. Ireland — Limerick ..... 182 
Scotland — Glencoe .... 188 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE WAR : 169I TO 1694. 

Congress at the Hague . . . . 192 

Campaign of 169 1 . . . . 19^ 



Contents. xi 



PAGE 

1692. Campaign of 1692. La Hogue and Steinkirk . 195 

1693. Campaign of 1693. Neerwinden . . 201 

1694. Cam[xiign of 1694 ..... 207 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

DEATH OF QUEEN MARY — PARLIAMENT UNTIL 1695. 208 

CHAPTER XIX. 

VARIOUS PLOTS AGAINST WILLIAM. 

1691-92. Disgrace of Marlborough .... 213 
1692-95. Plots of Fuller, Grandval, and Charnock . 216 

1695. Campaign of 1695. Capture of Namur by William 218 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE NEW PARLIAMENT — THE ASSASSINATION PLOT — 
THE PROGRESS OF THE WA^ — THE PEACE. 

1695-9.6. The, Session of 1695-6 .... 220 

1696. Assassination Plot .... 222 
Campaign of 1696 ..... 224 

1696-97. The Session of 1696-7 .... 225 

1697. The Peace of Ryswick, 1697 . . . 227 

^CHAPTER XXI. 

Literature and Science in England and France 

IN THE latter PART OF THE SEVENTEENTH CEN- 
TURV ....... 2C!2 



MAPS AND PLANS. 

Germany, Holland, and the Spanish Netherlands 

Map of Flanders and Brabant 

Argyle's Caippaign .... 

Monmouth's Campaign 

Battle of Sedgemoor ..... 

William's Campaign in the West of England . 
Campaign in North-east of Ireland — Battle of the Boyne 
Western Ireland .... 

Glencoe ....... 189 

Battle of Steinkirk ...... 200 

Battle of Neerwinden ..... 204 



to 


face Title 




,, p. 192. 




page 87. 




. 90, 




95 - 




. 130 


le 


16S 




. 184 



THE 

FALL OF THE STUARTS. 



CHAPTER 1. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

Section L — IVars. 

The history of Western Europe in the seventeenth cen- 
tury is a history of wars. 

' Wars destroy the morals of mankind by habituating 
them to refer everything to force, and by necessitating 
them so often to dispense with the ordinary immorality 
suggestions of sympathy and justice.' This °^ ^^'■^• 
is true of wars in general ; but the demoralising effect is 
much greater if wars are civil wars, or religious wars 
— wars, that is, between fellow-citizens to serve the ends of 
some political party, or to enforce the observance of some 
political truth; or wars between fellow- Christians to force 
all to follow some religious creed. Moral virtues are in 
these cases uprooted ; military virtues, which may exist 
in the most depraved man or state, flourish. 

The era of the great Protestant Revolution ushered in 
the period of religious wars. 

France was devastated by religious and civil wars 
combined in the latter half of the sixteenth, and in the 
beginning of the seventeenth century. It took part in the 

M.H. B 



2 The Fall of the Stuarts, 6fc. a.D, 

Thirty Years' War of Germany (i6i 8-1648) ; it was again 
T, ,. . the theatre of the civil war of the Fronde, in 

Keligious . . " 

and civil which aimless attempts were made to oppose 
France, Ger- the absolutism of the French crown (1648- 
many, and 1653). Germany was ahnost ruined by its 
great civil and religious Thirty Years' War. 
England had also suffered in its great civil and partly 
religious war, which ended in 1648, with the execution of 
Charles I. 

The great principle of religious toleration was un- 
known in the sixteenth century, and taught without suc- 
„ ,. . cess by a few great thinkers in the seventeenth 

Religious . , 

persecu- ccntury. Men believed great truths, by be- 

tions. lieving which they thought they secured their 

salvation, and they deemed it their bounden duty to make 
others believe, in order that they too might be saved. So 
not merely were wars undertaken for the sake of religious 
tenets, but within the several countries there were per- 
secutions of Christians by Christians, of Englishmen by 
Englishmen, Frenchmen by Frenchmen, Germans by 
Germans. 

Nevertheless it is only through the fire of religious 
The out- and civil wars, and of religious persecutions, 
come of the ^^i^ ^^ cause of rcligious and civil liberty 

religious 

and civil comes out triumphant. The fall of the Stuarts, 

peTs^ecu-'^ of which wc shall treat, is an event in the suc- 
tions, cessful struggle for civil and religious liberty. 
The latter half of the seventeenth century was occu- 
pied by wars of a less demoralising character than civil 
The balance and rcligious wars ; by wars undertaken by one 
of power. man, Lewis XIV., to obtain certain personal 
ends. These ends were the supremacy of Western Europe, 
the Imperial crown, and the succession to the throne of 
Spain. Of what befell Lewis in his attempts to secure the 
supremacy of Western Europe, and how the '■ balance of 
power' was eventually righted, we shall also treat. 



1678. Peace of Nimwegen. 



Section II. — Peace of Nimwegen, 1678. 

The sovereigns of the principal states of Europe in 
1678 were: — Leopold of Hapsburg, Emperor ; Lewis XIV., 
King of France; Charles IL, King of Eng- a.d. 1678. 
land; Charles IL, King of Spain; William, '^J'^'^lf^^ 
Prince of Orange, Stadtholder or Governor of Europe. 
the United Provinces of Holland. 

Holland and England were the great naval powers ; 
France coming next to them, and then Spain, 

Lewis XIV. having designs on the independence of the 
United Provinces of Holland, prevailed on Charles IL 
of England to join him in declaring war on Lewis of 
Holland in 1672. In England the war was so Sharks of*^ 
unpopular that when a parliament was sum- England 
moned in 1673 in order to vote supplies to with Hoi- 
carry on the war, the majority in it, opposed to ^^"'^' ^^72. 
the policy of Charles and his ministers, drove the ministry 
from power, declined to vote further supplies, ^ , , 

1 /- 1 1 1 • • ^ 1. England 

and forced the kmg m 1674 to mafce peace makes 
with Holland. p*^^"' ^^74- 

The Emperor Leopold and Charles IL, King of 
Spain, alarm.ed for the safety of their domi- German 
nions, which were threatened by the success and Spain 
of Lewis against Holland, concluded an al- against 
liance with the United Provinces. France. 

Although the private intrigues of Lewis XIV. with, 
the King of England kept that country neutral, the sym- 
pathies of the English nation were so strongly excited on 
behalf of the Dutch and their Stadtholder William of 
Orange, that it became evident to both Lewis and Charles 
that this neutral position could not long be maintained. 
Lewis, by the aid of his ambassador, Barillon, attempted 
to foment dissensions amongst the popular party in the 



4 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. A.D. 

parliament by bribery, the means which he had hitherto 
^ ^j effectually employed with Charles and his 

mediates for ministers. But his success was not sufficient 
ptace. ^^ warrant him in advising Charles to oppose 

the wishes of the nation. In 1677 William of Orange 
married Mary, elder of the two daughters of James, the 
Duke of York and heir presumptive of Charles II., and 
thus had claims of relationship on Charles, which, in the 
seventeenth century, were considered by politicians more 
binding than they are now. Charles and Lewis conse- 
quently agreed that the former should become the media- 
tor for a peace, by which France should profit, Holland 
should not suffer, and the pride of the English should be 
gratified by tlie prominent position which their country 
should occupy in the negotiations. After many difficulties, 
overcome chiefly by the diplomatic tact of Sir William 
Temple, the English ambassador at the Hague on the one 
hand, and by that of the plenipotentiary of Lewis on the 
other, a treaty was signed August 10, 1678. 

This treaty put an end to the war. It was called the 

Peace of Nimwegen, (Nimeguen), from the small town on 

the frontier between Holland and Germany 

Jr'eace of . . 

Nimwegen, whcre it was Signed. The treaty was drawn up 
^^''^* in French, although Latin had hitherto been 

the diplomatic language, and this is an important fact in 
diplomatic history, as marking the claim of supremacy in 
Europe put forth by France. 

The results of the treaty were that the United Pro- 
vinces of Holland retained their integrity, Maestricht being 

. restored to them, so that the boundaries of 

results of the states governed by William of Orange 
the peace. ^^;QXQ almost identical with those of the present 
kingdom of the Netherlands. France, however, kept its 
conquests of Senegal and Guiana, and these settlements 
were the sole loss of Holland at the conclusion of a ter- 



1678. Lewis XIV. and France. 5 

rible war which had threatened to annihilate her. The 
United Provinces agreed to be neutral in any war which 
might continue between France and other powers, and 
guaranteed the neutrality of Spain. Treaties of commerce 
between France and Holland, conferring equal privileges ' 
on both nations for twenty-five years, were also signed. 
France gained from Spain, a declining power, and there- 
fore the principal sufferer, Franche Comte (part of the 
old duchy of Burgundy, now forming the French depart- 
ments of Haute Saone, Doubs, and Jura) ; and the towns 
of St. Omer, Valenciennes, Cassel, and the adjacent dis- 
tricts, (sometimes called French Flanders, and forming the 
department of the Nord). Spain retained that part of her 
dominions in the Netherlands which is almost conter- 
minous with the present kingdom of Belgium, Loth- 
ringen (Lorraine) was restored to its duke, and again 
formed one of the states of the Empire, although prac- 
tically deprived of its independence by being obliged 
to keep up for Lewis four military roads, each two miles 
broad, and also to give up its two fortified towns, Nancy 
and Longwy. It was at the time of the peace of Nimwegen 
that the power of France, and the glory of Lewis XIV., 
were at their height. 

Section III. — Lewis XIV. atzd France. 

Lewis XIV. was, when the peace of Nimwegen was 
signed, forty years old ; his figure was handsome, his 
manners were engaging, although at the sarhe character of 
time dignified. He had an excellent constitu- Lewis xiv. 
tion, and was able to endure fatigue, cold, and hunger. 
He was not easily moved to anger, nor easily dispirited. 
These being his natural gifts, he himself, in his ' Memoires 
historiques/ tells us the chief motives which influenced 
his actions. 

He had the most exalted idea of the kingly office. ^ It 



6 TJie Fall of the Stuarts, &c. A.D. 

is the will of God,' wrote he, ^ who has given kings to 
men, that they should be revered as His vicegerents, He 
having reserv^ed to Himself alone the right to scrutinise 
their conduct.' ^ It is the will of God that every subject 
should yield to his sovereign an implicit obedience.' * All 
property within the nation belongs to the king by virtue 
of his title.' * Kings are absolute lords.' ^ L'Etat — c'est 
moi.' (The State — I am the State.) 

His ambition was unbounded. ' Self-aggrandisement,' 
he writes, ' is at once the noblest and the most agreeable 
occupation of kings.' 

Magnificence in daily life, and in pleasures, involving 
the greatest extravagance, was thus upheld by him — ' A 
large expenditure is the almsgiving of kings.' 

His habitual disregard of treaties was not the result 
of dishonesty or fickleness, but was the deliberate design 
of one who preferred pleasant manners to sincerity, who 
condemned a noble to exile with a sweet smile, and bowed 
with infinite grace to a courtier who before nightfall was 
on the road to prison. * In dispensing,' he says, ^ with the 
exact observance of treaties, we do not violate them ; for 
the language of such instruments is not to be understood 
literally. We must employ in our treaties a conventional 
phraseology, just as we use complimentary expressions in 
society. They are indispensable to our intercourse with 
one another, but they always mean much less than they 
say.' 

Lewis's intellectual powers were good, but not extraor- 
dinary. He was a man of strong opinions, of strong will, 
of strong health, a practical man of business, but not an 
originator, a governor rather than a statesman. 

His private life was regulated by his pleasures ; he, as 
a king, was subject to none of those laws w^hich rule the 
lives of ordinary mortals, but his desires were never too 
strong to make him forget his ambitious designs. 



1678. Leiv is XIV. and France. 7 

From his mother, Anne of Austria, daughter of Philip 
III. of Spain, he inherited the Spanish fondness for ce- 
remony and etiquette. Most of the European monarchs 
copied Lewis, and many of the silly and unmeaning cere- 
monies still practised in some continental courts may thus 
be traced to a Spanish source. 

Lewis was a sincere Roman Catholic, but he never 
allowed his religious feelings to weaken his belief in the 
prerogatives of a king. He kept the temporalities of the 
Church in his own disposal. He was for all practical 
purposes as much the head of the Galilean Church, the 
Church of France, as Henry VH I. had been of the English 
Church. 

His most trusted ministers were Colbert and Louvois; 
but, as Lewis was an absolute monarch, they were respon- 
sible to no one but their master; both alike Lewis' 
were ministers dependent on his will, but they co?b«frTand 
were directly opposed to each other on all Louvois. 
questions of home or foreign policy. There was an un- 
ceasing struggle between Colbert and Louvois. During 
the war just ended, Colbert was continually advising Lewis 
to make peace ; and, now that the peace was concluded, 
Louvois was continually urging him to renew the war. 
This difference which existed between them was a natural 
result of their respective duties. To Colbert was entrusted 
by Lewis the direction of finance, commerce, public works, 
and the colonies ; to Louvois was given the post of minister 
of war. 

On one point Colbert and Louvois were agreed, and 
that was in the employment of Vauban, the great master 
of the art of fortification. By Vauban 300 vauban the 
French fortresses were either built, repaired, military 
or enlarged. These fortresses were designed ^"S'^^^^- 
chiefly for the defence of the French frontiers, which 
offered, and more particularly on the north-east, many 



8 TJie Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.D. 

vulnerable points. Colbert for his part looked on the 
money expended in carrying out Vauban's plans, as sunk 
in insuring against the possibility of a war, which might 
be brought about by the temptation offered to a strong 
power of overrunning the north-eastern provinces of 
France, some of the richest provinces of the kingdom. 

Colbert was a man of unimpeachable integrity, of great 
industry, and of bold and inventive genius. His political 
Colbert's theories may now appear antiquated, but they 
finance. prevailed universally for many generations, 

and by some French statesmen of the present day Colbert 
is considered the great authority on all national financial 
questions. His leading idea was to protect native produce 
and industry by placing heavy duties on exports, so heavy 
as to be almost prohibitory, and in some cases stopping 
importation altogether. To give an example. He allowed 
corn to be exported only when there had been an abundant 
harvest. If he anticipated a deficiency, the export was 
not permitted. Hence no agriculturist cared to cultivate 
poor land, but threw it out of cultivation, and the results 
of this were that there was a large extent of waste ground 
in France, and that the agriculturists were very poor. 
The poverty of the agriculturists again prevented their 
being customers of the manufacturers, and thus there was 
a loss of trade to the manufacturers. 

Another principle of Colbert's finance, now everywhere 
recognised as a pernicious principle, was the forbidding, 
as much as possible, gold and silver to be sent out of the 
kingdom. Coin was, therefore, everywhere hoarded, 
and this practice has continued in the rural districts of 
France even to the present day. Colbert did not perceive 
that if there was a deficiency of gold or silver in France, 
and coin consequently became dearer, there would be a 
rush of coin from other countries, where it was more 
abundant, and consequently cheaper, to supply that 
deficiency. 



1678. Leivis XIV. and France. 9 

In the chief European nations, in England, France, 
Holland, Germany, Italy, there existed guilds, or com- 
panies, at the head of each trade and manu- Coibert and 
facture. These corporations regulated the '^^^ guilds. 
practice of their trades, and llxed the prices to be paid to 
the labourers, and to be received for goods. They were 
often possessed of great wealth, and were of influence in 
the State. Their power was now beginning to decline, 
owing to various reasons, amongst others to greater free- 
dom of communication. But Colbert endeavoured in 
France to prop up their failing influence. He promulgated 
edicts enforcing the regulations of the guilds ; and these re- 
gulations were minute, pedantic, and tyrannical. The result 
was that trades and manufactures were artificially fostered ; 
that they did not follow the natural wants of the popula- 
tion, as they do when perfect freedom is allowed them, 
but became producers and distributors of luxuries rather 
than of necessaries. During Colbert's ministry there were 
17,300 persons engaged in manufacturing lace, a luxury ; 
whilst 60,400 were all that were employed in woollen 
manufactures. 

Colbert was extremely rigorous against those who 
usurped privileges to which they were not legally entitled. 
This was in keeping with his action in uphold- ^ , 

^ ° ^ Further 

mg the authority of the guilds. There were policy of 
certain privileges claimed by the nobility, which ° ^^^' 
were assumed by some who had no legal right to do so. 
All such pretenders were punished by fines and imprison- 
ments. He also endeavoured to introduce an uniform 
tariff throughout the kingdom. In this he only par- 
tially succeeded, as newly acquired provinces claimed 
privileges which had been reserved for them when they 
were added to France. With more complete success he 
reorganised the navy of France, and first raised it to the 
strength of a great maritime power. He codified the 



lO The Fall of tJie Stuarts^ &€. A.D, 

French laws. He carried out some magnificent public 
works ; tlie most noteworthy of which is the great canal 
of Languedoc, connecting the Mediterranean and Atlantic, 
completed under his influence by the engineer, Pierre Paul 
de Riquet. 

Slavery existed in the West Indian colonies of France, 
as in those of all other European nations. To Colbert's 
„ ,, , honour be it stated that, by the Code Noir in- 

Colbert s ' ^ 

* Code troduced by him, the evils attendant on slavery 

°'^' were greatly mitigated, and the relations thus 

established between master and slave were not nearly so 
unrighteous as those which existed in the colonies of other 
States. 

All Colbert's financial projects had been deranged 
during the war just ended. The first period of his minis- 
, try, previous to 1672, had been styled by him 

finance dis- a period of construction ; the second, from 
arranged. ^^^^ to 1 678, had been a period of destruc- 
tion, owing to the expenses of the war ; the third period 
he fondly hoped would be one of reconstruction, but this 
hope was not destined to be realised. In the years 1681 
and 1682, Colbert redeemed 9omillions of livres of national 
debts ; in the same years Lewis incurred debts to the 
amount of 100 miUions. 

To meet the expenses of the war, it had been neces- 
sary to raise large sums by taxation. There was a tax 
Condition °^^ landed property and persons called the 
of the ' taille,' and almost every necessary of life was 

people after also taxed, evcn pewter vessels. One of the most 
the war. hated of tliesc taxes was that on salt, called the 

' gabelle.' These burdens were borne almost exclusively by 
the producing and labouring classes, for among the many 
privileges of the nobility was that of large exemption 
from taxation. Those, therefore, paid least who could best 
afford to pay most. Distress among the tax-paying classes 



1678. Lezvis XIV. and France. II 

was universal. Popular tumults arose in numerous dis- 
tricts and were put down with great severity. The 
wretched peasants were reduced to eating grass and the 
bark of trees ; and famine slew thousands. 

The system under which a great portion of the land in 
France was cultivated, which is called metairie, is an evil 
one. The metayer, (medietarius, middle-man) 
or occupier of the land, was provided by the and pea- 
owner with seed, cattle, and agricultural im- ^^^^' 
plements, and in return, besides paying all taxes, gave half 
the gross produce to the landowner. Though an advance 
on the serf system it did not invite peasants to spend 
money on the improvement of the land, and so produced 
poor cultivation. Half the produce was also too large a 
rent. The metayer grew as little corn as possible, and 
fed his geese in his wheat fields, for his half of the gross 
produce was insufficient to pay for the labour of culti- 
vation. The farms of the metayers were very small, in 
reality but peasant-holdings. The relations existing 
between the peasant-farmer and his lord were very 
different from those existing in England between the 
village labourer and the squire. The French lord (seig- 
neur) visited his estates only for retrenchment or to 
squeeze out larger yieldings from his metayers. He lived 
at the court. The magnificence and extravagance of 
Lewis XIV. were imitated on a smaller scale by all the 
nobility. Life in the country was looked on by a seigneur 
as exile. The responsibilities of- a landlord were not re- 
cognised by him. He sought advancement at court, and 
for this advancement he intrigued and bribed. Even 
military service he seldom undertook from patriotic 
motives, but as a means of procuring court favour. When 
once a nobleman had secured a firm standing and influ- 
ence at court, he made use of his position to replenish his 
fortune by selling his influence to less fortunate aspirants. 
The hereditary and exclusive privileges of the nobility 



12 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

and place-holders were so valuable that Lewis and his 
ministers increased the revenue by the sale of 
the titles and offices which conferred such 
privileges. By degrees monopolies were created. To 
such an extent was this system carried, that the privilege 
of exercising the meanest callings, such as those of porters, 
or of mutes at funerals, was reserved to certain families, 
in consideration of a large money payment. 

In the provincial estates and parliaments of France 
existed the elements of civil liberty. 

The local government of each province was entrusted 
to its estate. The estate met in assembly in the three 
Provincial Orders of clergy, nobility, and commons. It 
estates. raised the revenue required by the king, had 

authority to 'borrow money, and superintended the expen- 
diture of money to be laid out on local purposes. But, in 
the reign of Lewis, there was placed over each provincial 
estate a royal functionary, called an intendant, and under 
him served various officials. He was appointed by the 
king's will, was removable at the king's pleasure, and, in 
reality, controlled everything. The provincial estates 
often grumbled, but their opposition seldom extended 
further. The greater nobles lived at court, the clergy were 
faithful servants of the Crown, the intendant was the 
king's representative, so that although, theoretically, the 
power and privileges of the provincialestates still belonged 
to them, their power and their privileges were practically 
in the hands of the intendant. Opposition to the wishes 
of the intendant was easily silenced by quartering troops 
on a refractory district, or by the arbitrary imprisonment 
of an independent member of the estate. 

The parliaments of France, originally nine, afterwards 
fifteen in number, were the supreme legal tribunals. The 
Parlia- parliament of Paris was naturally the chief, 

ments. ]q^i cach parliament claimed to be independent 

of every other. They were jealous of each other's 



1678. Lewis XIV. and France. 13 

authority, and had no common principle of action. Besides 
their legal functions, they claimed the power of refusing 
to register in their archives any law which the king had 
promulgated, and they asserted that this refusal on their 
part rendered the law inoperative. Lewis, however, would 
not admit this claim of the parliaments ; he compelled 
them to register his laws, he forbade them to prosecute 
any royal official who disobeyed their orders, and enforced 
his will by banishing any members of a parliarrient who 
upheld this privilege. The legal offices attached to the 
membership of a parliament were, as those attached to 
the Crown, saleable. Lewis therefore was soon enabled 
to fill a great number of these with devoted adherents ; 
and by cleverly turning to good account the jealousy felt 
by each parliament for the other, he soon rendered it 
impossible for them to take common action in rejecting a 
royal mandate. 

France did not come out unscathed from the war 
ended by the peace of Nimwegen. The ambition of its 
monarch had impoverished the country. The agricul- 
tural, commercial, manufacturing, and colonial interests 
had all suffered. The conditions of peace were advan- 
tageous to France as regarded her territory and military 
power ; but, on the other hand, the protective duties on 
which the manufacturers, especially those of woollen 
goods and silk, had relied, were relaxed in favour of 
Holland and England. 

Lewis's inordinate ambition and firm belief in the di- 
vine right of kings combined to make him desire to see 
himself at the head of Europe, not as king of France 
only, but as Emperor, and king of Spain. France, though 
impoverished, had great natural resources, and Colbert 
was there to provide funds, Louvois to look to the 
' materiel ' of his army, Vauban to build his fortresses. 
One man only stood in Lewis's way, William of Orange. 



14 The Fall of the Stuarts, drc. a.d. 

Section IV. — The Untied Provinces and William of 

Orange. 

William of Orange was born November 4, 1650, eight 
days after the death of his father, the Stadtholder of the 
United Provinces of Holland. A strong party, opposed 
to the idea of the Stadtholdership being hereditary in the 
house of Orange, endeavoured for some years to carry 
on the government. But Holland thus became divided 
against itself, and an easy prey therefore to its enemies. 
Seven provinces with independent provincial assemblies, 
sending members to the States General, afforded a fine 
field for French diplomacy. In a few years the meetings 
of the States General were scenes of confusion. To add 
to the difficulties which stood in the way of unanimity, 
there were eighteen cities in Holland, governed each by 
a municipal council, and each of these claimed an inde- 
pendent voice in many affairs of state. The character of 
William had, young as he was, become known. 

The United , . ^ %, , , ^ ii j r , 

PrjDvinces and m 1672, Zealand, followed soon after by 
wmfam as ^^ Other provinccs, chose him Stadtholder. 
Stadtholder, The French had invaded Holland, and William 
^ ^^* took desperate measures to drive them out of 

his country. He appealed to the patriotism of his country- 
men, the dykes were burst open, the whole country was 
flooded, and the French were forced to beat a speedy re- 
treat. For six years the war continued, and Holland, at 
first almost ruined, had, at the peace of Nimwegen, pre- 
served its independence and its territory, had gained 
commercial advantages, and had won the respect of Eu- 
rope. William had also established his reputation. He 
had shown himself, under a cold, calm, exterior, to be 
capable of originating bold designs, and of tenaciously 
carrying them out. He had proved himself as a diplo- 
matist second to none. He had already gained a hold on 



1678. William of Orange. . 1 5 

the German powers which he presently used to good 
effect. 

WiUiam, a Calvinist, the upholder of civil and reli- 
gious liberty, was naturally hated by Lewis, a bigoted 
Catholic and maintainer of despotism. William, well 
aware of this antipathy, was also a farsighted states- 
man, who saw that among the many projects of Lewis's 
ambition, not the most difficult to be realised was that 
of making the whole of Western Europe subservient to 
France. For if England entered into an offensive and 
defensive alliance with Lewis, and placed its naval re- 
sources at his disposal, then Western Europe would be 
at his feet. Lewis therefore directed all his wiiiiam 
intrigues to gain England to his side, William ^^^ Lev/i:;. 
worked as strenuously to frustrate those intrigues. 

By William's marriage, he acquired a right to be con- 
sulted on England's foreign policy, for Charles, the king, 
was childless, and his only brother, James, had as yet but 
two children, both daughters, and of them Mary was the 
elder. WilHam's wife therefore stood not far from the 
succession. William had many warm friends amongst 
the liberal-minded and patriotic men there were in the 
English nobility, although these were few in number, and 
already (in 1678) had gained influence among English 
statesmen. This influence it was the great aim of Lewis 
to destroy. He instructed his ambassador, Barillon, to 
work on Charles's love of pleasure and want of money ; to 
work on the religious feehngs of James, who had now the 
enthusiasm of a convert to Roman Catholicism, and also 
on his hatred of constitutional liberty ; to work on the 
courtiers by bribery, and by encouraging their jealousies 
one of the other; to work on the English people by stirring 
up the spirit of persecution, by pitting Protestant against 
Papist, by sowing enmity between the country and the 
court. And well Barillon did his work. The history of 



1 6 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. A.D. 

the last seven years of the reign of Charles II . of England 
cannot be understood unless we remember that Charles 
and his statesmen were but the puppets of the show, that 
Barillon was the underling who pulled the strings, and 
that Lewis XIV. was the director, whilst William of Orange 
sat looking on, a quiet, but by no means unobservant, 
spectator. 

Section V. — Germa?iy ajtd Spain; Emperor Leopold 
and Charles II. of Spain. 

Germany, already exhausted by the Thirty Years' War 
(1618-1648), had suffered much in the war with France, 
now ended by the Peace of Nimwegen. It was true that 
no province had been lost, and that Lothringen (Lorraine) 
again formed a state of the empire ; but the breathing 
time, so necessary for it to recover from its frightful losses, 
had been interrupted ; the power of the Diet had been 
weakened, the bonds which united the various states, 
never tight, were now more slackened. Lewis 
had gained over electors and princes of the 
empire, by money, by promises of increased dominions, 
and by flattery ; and he had no occasion to trouble him- 
self about the German people. For the German people 
could be hardly said to exist. Germany was now com- 
posed of numerous small courts, numerous small armies, 
and half-starved wretched peasants. The towns were 
half depopulated, and the middle class was almost anni- 
hilated. 

The Emperor Leopold was both mentally and 
morally a weak man. Of the house of Hapsburg, duke 
of Austria, and king of Bohemia and of 
eopo . Hungary, he had no real power in the em- 
pire. Swayed hither and thither, as the interest of the 
moment seemed to direct him, he had been at one time 
the tool of Lewis, but now he leant on William of Orange, 



1678. England in \6']%. ly 

for support. Lewis's designs on the empire were so mani- 
fest that Leopold, with the greatest tenacity his nature 
permitted, joined WilKam in his plans for counteracting 
them. 

Spain was fallen from its high position. The kingdom 
was impoverished. The wealth of its American colonies 
had not enriched the state. Its best blood . 

had been drained away. Every adventurous 
spirit had been enthralled by the desire of becoming 
rich. Its court was the victim of state etiquette. Its 
nobles were ill-educated and the slaves of the priests. 
Its race of statesmen and warriors had died out. Its king, 
Charles II., was a sickly and feeble boy of thirteen years 
of age. 

So the conditions of the Peace of Nimwegen com- 
pelled Spain to pay. As we have said above (p. 5), 
Tranche Comte, and some of Spain's best provinces in 
the Netherlands fell to the share of Lewis. 



CHAPTER n. 

ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND, 1678 AND 1679. 

Section I. — E^iglandin 1678. 

Lewis XIV. wished to gain England to his side. He 
endeavoured therefore to undermine William's influence 
and sow dissension in the nation ; but England, ^ „ 

to be of use to him, must not be weakened. 
The stronger the nation was, the more help it could 
afford him. He hoped by destroying popular govern- 
ment, and by restoring the Catholic religion in England, 
to make it both a strong and ready tool in his hands. 

The affairs of the two kingdoms, England and Scot- 
land, will for a time occupy our attention. 

The news of the Peace of Nimwegen was received in 
England with mingled joy and discontent. Englishmen 
M.H. C 



1 8 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. A.D. 

were glad that William of Grange, the Stadtholder, the 
nephew, by marriage, of their king, had come out of his 
Discontent great Struggle with Lewis with unreduced do- 
in England minions, and with increased weight in the 
^" ^ ^ ' councils of Europe. But there was discontent 

for three reasons. First, because the national pride was 
wounded. In the time of Cromwell, just twenty years ago, 
England had been the most respected European power, 
the one power which France courted. It had defeated the 
navies of Holland and Spain ; it had been the great 
upholder of the Protestant cause, as William of Orange 
now was; and now this glory had passed away. The second 
reason for discontent was the fear for the cause of civil 
liberty. It was rumoured that treaties and arrangements 
had been entered into by the English king with Lewis 
XIV., which had for their object the subversion of the 
constitution by the aid of foreign troops. Charles had 
raised troops nominally to aid William of Orange ; but 
these troops had, by Barillon's intrigues, been kept back, 
and were in England, not as yet disbanded. So the old 
English feeling of distrust of a standing army was aggra- 
vated by the fear that French forces might be sent to join 
those raised by Charles in coercing Parliament. But 
there was a third reason for discontent in the general 
hatred felt for Roman Catholicism. Puritans and church- 
men were united in this hatred ; it was their one bond 
of union. The activity shown by the Roman Catho- 
lics seemed to justify this hatred. Jesuit priests were 
known to be intriguing at court ; the king was sus- 
pected of an inclination to papistry ; the Duke of York, the 
heir presumptive, was a declared Roman Catholic, and 
had married for his second wife the Princess Mary of 
Modena, also a Roman Catholic. At the same time 
Lewis XIV., the adviser of Charles, had already begun 
on a small scale those persecutions of Protestants which 



1678. English Statesmen, 19 

in a few years after he carried out in such a manner as 
to drive the Protestants of England and Holland wild 
with anger. 

This popular discontent found two vents for its ex- 
pression ; the one in an attempt to drive j^^^^ ^j^^ 
Roman Catholicism from the kingdom, and to discontent is 
exclude the Duke of York from the succession 
to the throne ; the other in the impeachment of the 
minister, Lord Danby. 

Section II. — The Minister and the leader of the 
Opposition. 

Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby, was the minister to 
whom Charles II. had at this time entrusted the English 
chief direction of affairs ; the leader of the Op- statesmen, 
position was Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury. 

Political immorality was as prevalent among English, 
as among continental, statesmen. The use of bribery was 
general. If at any time the expression used in later days by 
an English statesman that ' every man has his price,' was 
true, it was true in the time of Charles II. One or two 
rare exceptions there were, but statesmen who were con- 
sidered upright, and patriots who were famed for their 
public spirit, condescended to receive ' pensions ' from 
Lewis XIV. for themselves, and to bribe members of Par- 
liament. This was done with so little reserve as to make 
it evident that conscientious men looked on giving and re- 
ceiving bribes in another light than that in vAich we are 
now accustomed to view such a crime. 

Osborne, Lord Danby, was not beyond his age. Of 
good business powers, and ready in debate, he tried to 
make parliament subservient to his views by Lord 
purchasing it wholesale. Himself fond of l^anby. 
money, he measured everyone by his own standard. 
So thoroughly did he carry out his plan that the parliament 



20 Tlie Fall of the Stum'ts, &c. A.D. 

which was sitting in 1678, which had, in fact, been sitting 
since 1661, has earned for itself in history the name of 
' Pension Parhament.' Danby's own poHtical views were 
moderate. He was a Protestant, but not a Puritan; an 
upholder of the monarchy, but no lover of arbitrary power; 
an adherent of the Stuarts, but no mere courtier. 

Ashley Cooper, Lord Shaftesbury, began public life as 
a royalist, and then united himself to the party of the 
■r , Commonwealth. During Richard Cromwell's 

Shaftes- brief protectorate he had joined Monk in his 
"^^' successful plot for the restoration of the 

Stuarts. Dryden in his satire of 'Absalom and Achitophel ' 
thus describes Shaftesbury under the character of Achito- 
phel : 

For close designs and crooked counsels fit, 
Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit, 
Restless, unfixed in principles and place. 
In power unpleased, iimpatient of disgrace,. 

Although written by a political and religious opponent, 
history admits the justice of this description. 

Section III.— The Popish Plot 

On August 13, 1678, three days after the signing of 
the Peace of Nimwegen, Charles II. received a warning 
not to walk unaccompanied in the Park, nor to expose his 
person heedlessly, ' for that his death was determined on.' 
Titus This information was traced through various 

Gates. channels to one Titus Oates. Oates was on 

September 28 brought before the privy council. 

Had it not been for the prevalent feeling of distrust 
and hatred of the Roman Catholics, the personal appear- 
ance and previous career of Oates would have been con- 
clusive evidence of the falseness of his story. The son 
of an Anabaptist, he had early in life conformed to the 
Church of England, been admitted to holy orders and 



1678. The Popish Plot. 21 

presented to a living. This he had been compelled to 
resign, on a charge of perjury, and of using blasphe- 
mous expressions. He next obtained a chaplaincy on 
board a man-of-war, but was dismissed his ship for dis- 
graceful behaviour. Professing then to be a convert to 
Roman Catholicism, he joined the English college at St. 
Omer, in France. His present story was that he had been 
entrusted by the highest Romish authorities with letters, 
written by the Pope himself, the purport of which was to 
excite the Catholics to compass the death of King Charles 
by any means. He added that meetings had been already 
held in London for that purpose ; and that Coleman, the 
Roman Catholic secretary of the Roman Catholic Duke of 
York, and Father la Chaise, the confessor of Lewis XIV. 
(whom Oates always calls Father Le Shee) were the per- 
sons through whom the necessary correspondence was 
carried on. 

Coleman's house was immediately searched. He had 
partly destroyed his papers, but some were found contain- 
ing doubtful expressions (doubtful, that is, as to loyalty, 
but perfectly natural under the circumstances), setting 
forth the great hopes which the Catholics in England enter- 
tained for the future, when the Duke of York would be 
king, and Lewis XIV. would be able to afford them more 
active assistance. 

In addition to Coleman, Oates accused Wakeman 
the queen's private physician, who was also a Roman 
Catholic. 

In the course of his story Oates said that he had been 
sent through Spain, previously to his coming to Eng- 
land, and that there he had an interview with Don John of 
Austria, the young King of Spain's minister, who had pro- 
mised to aid the English Catholics in the execution of their 
designs. Charles, who was present at Oates's examination 
and was incredulous asked Oates what sort of a man 



22 The Fall of the Stuai^ts. &e. a.d. 

Don John was. Oates replied, ' a tall, lean man.' This 
answer amused Charles, for Don John was very short 
and fat, and made him still more incredulous of the tale. 

But the country received Oates's story as gospel. 

Oates, after his examination before the privy council, 
went to Sir Edmondsbury Godfrey, an active justice of 
Murder of ^^^ peacc, who had been knighted for his 
S'l; , exertions durino- the great plague, and made a 

Edmonds- , . . ^ . . . ^ . . . . 

bury deposition on oath of the truth of his state- 

Godfrey, ments. A few days after, the servants of Sir 
Edmondsbury were surprised at their master not return- 
ing to dinner at his usual hour ; they waited for him the 
whole afternoon, and at night sent to tell his brothers 
of his absence from home. Nothing was heard of him 
that night (Saturday), but on the following Wednes- 
day morning his body was found in a ditch in some 
fields, near London, now occupied by the Regent's 
Park. From the marks on the corpse it appeared 
that the victim had been first strangled, and that some 
time after death his own sword had been run through 
him, the sword remaining in the body. His money 
was untouched. The body lay exposed to the public view 
for two days, and at the funeral strange scenes of excite- 
ment took place. Three persons of the queen's house- 
hold were afterwards tried and executed for the murder, 
but on perjured and insufficient evidence. An attempt was 
also made some time after to prove that Sir Edmonds- 
bury Godfrey had committed suicide, but this failed. 
Two hypotheses to account for the murder, both probable, 
remain. The one is that the knight was murdered by 
zealous Papists to intimidate those who were taking active 
measures to investigate the alleged Popish Plot ; the other 
is that the deed was committed by the orders of some of 
those whose interest it was to provoke more strongly the 
prevalent Protestant antipathy to the Duke of York and 



1678. The Popish Plot. 23 

the Roman Catholics. It has also been stated, but no 
proof has been offered, that the murder was committed by- 
some of Oates's gang to add credibility to their statement. 
The popular excitement now rose to the highest pitch. 
Parliament had met in session. Even if Danby had 
attempted to bribe, the venal members were 
no longer to be bought. A Committee of the pipisfs ' 
House was appointed to enquire into the ?f^75'^ ^^ ^ 

^•^ ^ . Parliament. 

murder of Sir Edmondsbury Godfrey and into 
Oates's disclosures. A day was set apart for a solemn 
fast. A bill was hurriedly carried through both Houses 
* for the more effectual preserving the king's person and 
government by disabling Papists from sitting in either 
House of Parliament.' The intention of Shaftesbury and 
the Opposition evidently was to prepare the way for the 
exclusion of the Duke of York from the succession to the 
throne, but a special exemption clause was inserted in 
the bill (partly on the personal appeal to the House of 
Lords of the duke, who spoke * with great earnestness and 
with tears in his eyes ') which ran as follows, '■ Provided 
always that nothing m this Act contained shall extend to 
his Royal Highness the Duke of York.' To deal a 
heavier blow against Roman Catholics, it was also 
determined that an oath of allegiance to the king, and a 
declaration of the idolatry of masses should be made by 
all holders of office under the Crown, as a test that they 
were untainted by Popery. 

The Committee of the House of Commons examined 
Oates, and another witness, one Bedlow, a man of 
notoriously bad character, who now came forward to 
corroborate Oates's statements. They reported the actual 
existence of a Popish Plot, having for its object Oates 
the death of the king and the destruction of J^^rthl^ dis- 
the Protestant religion. Oates and his ac- closures. 
complice no longer contented themselves with accusing 



24 The Fall of the Stitarts, &c. a.D. 

such inferior persons as secretaries, priests, and 
physicians, but named five Roman Catholic peers. Lords 
Powys, Bellasis, Stafford, Petre, and Arundel, who were 
straightway committed to the Tower. Gates insinuated, 
Bedlow more than insinuated, that the queen herself was 
privy to the plot. Charles had acted throughout with 
duplicity, publicly professing belief in the plot, but to his 
intimates treating it as a joke, and saying ' he was 
accused of being in a plot against his own life;' but this 
accusation against the queen was more than even he could 
brook, and this portion of the evidence was therefore not 
touched upon. 

Coleman was tried and executed, as were also three 
Romish priests. 

The trade of witness or informer brought so much 
consideration from the vulgar, and such flattering hopes 
More infor- of P^y from the gratitude of the nation, that 
mers arise. many were now found to join Gates and 
Bedlow. Among the more prominent of these was Car- 
stairs, a man who had already earned notoriety by acting 
as a spy on those who had, in Scotland, been holding 
conventicles, contrary to the law. 

The expectations of Gates and his accomplices were 
not unfulfilled. In a few weeks Gates had apartments 
assigned to him in Whitehall, a guard was appointed to 
preserve him from the Papists supposed to be thirsting 
for his blood, and a pension of 1,200/. a year was granted 
to him. The inferior agents were also well cared for. 

For the sake of preserving popularity Charles 
made no attempt, nor did he allow Danby to make 
any, to quell the popular excitement. In the trials that 
took place from the numerous accusations laid by the in- 
Serviiity of formers, the conduct of the judges must not be 
the judges. overlooked. The servility of those who sat 
on the bench, and the shameless way in which they 



1878. Fall of the Eaid of Dauby, 2 5 

obeyed the dictates of the court, disgraced the name of 
justice. Scroggs, the lord chief justice, dis- chiefjusiice 
tinguished himself in bullying the witnesses Scroggs. 
for the defence and in pressing for convictions, and 
showed such zeal and heartiness for ' the Protestant 
cause,' that he shared with Oates the honour of popular 
applause. He had been raised by Danby to the post he 
held, and was not fitted for it either by ability, legal attain- 
ments, or decency of life. 

Section IV. — Fall of the Earl of Danby. 

Whilst the public mind was inflamed by the discovery 
of these various Popish plots, fresh fuel was added to the 
excitement by Ralph Montague presenting to 
the House of Commons certain letters which disclosures^ 
had passed through his hands from Lord Danby t? ^^^ 
to Lewis XIV., asking for money. Montague 
was the representative of England at the court of France. 
Lewis had been deeply annoyed at the vacillations of 
Charles in the negotiations which preceded the Peace of 
Nimwegen, and laid on Danby the blame of his master's 
indecision. In revenge he now therefore urged Montague 
by bribes and other persuasions to betray Danby. Mon- 
tague came to England, appeared in parliament, in which 
he had a seat, and read two letters ; one of these, signed 
by Danby, made an offer to Lewis that Charles would be 
neutral in the war if a pension of 600,000 livres (about 
24,000/.) were paid him for the next three years. At the 
end of a letter was a postscript in Charles's own hand 
agreeing to the terms. The house was no longer under 
the minister's control. The impeachment of Lord Danby 
was proposed. 

Danby's defence was that the king alone had, by law, 
power to declare war or to make peace ; that Danby im- 
his duty was to obey his sovereign in all things peached, 
lawful, and that in this case he had no alternative. 



26 The Fall of the SUiarts, &c. A.D. 

But the Opposition carried the day. On December 19, 
1678, the impeachment was voted by 179 votes to 116, 
and the charges against Danby were read at the bar of 
the H ouse of Lords. 

The charges in the impeachment really only amounted 
to a misdemeanour, but in the Upper House a motion 
was made that Danby should be committed to the Tower 
on a charge of treason ; but this motion was not carried, 
although Shaftesbury pressed its adoption. The plea 
under which it was sought to commit Danby was, that 
the word ' traitorously ' appeared in the impeachment 
presented by the Commons. But the majority in the 
House of Lords rejected the motion for his committal, on 
the grounds (and solid grounds they appear), that if the 
Commons by the insertion of a word could convert a 
misdemeanour into a treason, they became judges as well 
as accusers. 

Charles now determined on dissolving the parliament, 
in the hope of putting an end to Danby's prosecution, 

and preventing the disclosure of any further 

^^^^" proofs of the intrigues he had been engaged 

in with the King of France. The ' Pension Parliament ' 

was consequently dissolved January 1679, ^'^d 
of\he'"pen- ^ ^^"^ parliament was summoned for March. 
sion Par- 'phg elections 'went almost everywhere against 

liament. 

the court. 

The Duke of York, afraid that his presence in 

London might foment the angry feelings of the 

Charles Capital, left England for Brussels, accom- 

deciares panied by his wife. But before his departure 

Queen , , . , 

Catherine to Charles, on his earnest entreaty, made a 
j^fg^^Jy^"^ solemn declaration before the privy council, 
■^'f^- that he had never been man-ied, nor had made 

a contract of marriage with any woman whatsoever save 
his wife Queen Catherine. 



1676. Third Parliament of Charles II. 27 

The object of this declaration was to put an end to 
the pretensions of the Duke of Monmouth, the eldest of 
King Charles's natural children, whose mother, Duke of 
Lucy Walters, was popularly supposed to Monmouth. 
have been married to Charles whilst he was a refugee at 
the Hague. The proofs of this marriage were supposed 
to be concealed in a certain ' black box,' to which constant 
allusions will be found in the pamphlets of the period. 
The Duke of Monmouth (the Absalom of Dryden's 
' Absalom and Achitophel ') was eminently fitted to at- 
tract popular sympathy. He was at an early age wedded 
to the richest heiress of her day, the Lady Anne Scott, 
who inherited the vast property of the house of Buccleuch. 
Of a handsome person, of pleasant and winning manners, 
of tried bravery, the beloved of Protestants and country 
gentlemen, he was used as a tool by Shaftesbury for the 
purpose of crushing the Duke of York. On James's retire- 
ment from England, Monmouth for a few months became 
the petted idol of the court. 

Section V. — The third Parliament of Charles II. 
{Habeas Corpus Act). 

Charles, on Danby's fall, called to his councils Sir 
William Temple, who had been one of the chief negotia- 
tors of the Nimwegen peace. Temple was a sir William 
man not only of the most cultivated mind, but Temple. 
also of the strictest integrity ; he never hesitated to speak the 
truth to the pleasure-loving Charles, nor to retire from pub- 
lic affairs when his country's welfare or his personal honour 
demanded. Since the Restoration (1660) he had been 
employed in diplomacy on the Continent, and had never 
sat in the House of Commons. In one respect this was a 
drawback, as he was unable to enter into the feelings and 
susceptibilities of the House ; in another respect it was a 
gain, since to his name could not be attached the odious 
epithet of ' pensionary.' 



28 The Fall of the Stuarts y &c. A.D, 

Sir WilMam Temple's first measure was a novel one ; 

he reconstituted the privy council. It was to consist of 

thirty members. Fifteen of these were to be 

tion°oFthe ^^^ ministers and officers of state, the rerhain- 

^"^y ., ino: fifteen to be noblemen and gentlemen of 

Council. ° ° 

high standing. The measure was at first most 
popular. It was thought by the one party that it would 
prevent the encroachments of parliament on the preroga- 
tives of the Crown, by the other party that it would hinder 
the attacks of the Crown on the independence of parlia- 
ment. Shaftesbury was chosen president, so that he now 
filled the anomalous position of lord president of the 
privy council and leader of the Opposition in parlia- 
ment. 

But the new privy council was soon found too 
numerous and too divided in opinions to fulfil the pur- 
pose of a working council for the king. 

From that >,, , , r , r ^ -i 

a Cabinet is Charles therefore chose from the council 
orme . ^-^^^ Confidential advisers: Temple, Capel Earl 

of Essex, Spencer Earl of Sunderland, and Savile 
Viscount Halifax. These formed, what in the present 
day is called, the Cabinet. 

Essex was a politician of good intentions and of 
honourable character, and had therefore 
or ssex. gg^jj^gjj ^\^q respect of Temple. 

Sunderland was the product of his day. Clever and 
unprincipled, he had for years resided at the court of 
Lord Sun- Lewis as envoy of England, and had there 
xieriand. become an adept in intrigues, both political 

and social. 

Halifax was a man of gi'eat intellectual powers. His 
natural disposition was kind and tolerant, and this, joined 
Lqj.jj to his keen appreciation of probable results, 

Halifax. made him take a broad and moderate view 

of party politics. Hence his policy always tended to 



1679. Third Parliament of CJiarles II. 29 

avoid extreme measures, and he consequently received 
the nickname of ' Trimmer.' The same name \vas ap- 
pHed to all those who followed him in attempting to hold a 
middle course between the court and country factions, the 
two great parties of the day. Halifax's political morality 
was expediency. Whatever party best served present 
purposes he joined ; and he found no difficulties in 
changing from one side to the other, for his personal 
dislikes were reserved for those only who were violent 
and immoderate partisans. 

But this choice of a small body out of the council was 
deeply resented by most of the other members, and 
Shaftesbury prepared a most active opposition 
to the ministiy. Parliament met on March 6. meets!"^" 
The first contest took place on the choice of a Strong 

^ opposition 

Speaker of the House of Commons. The king to the 
nominated a member to fill the chair ; the Op- ^^^^ ' 
position claimed for the Commons the right of election, 
asserting that the only power which the Crown had was 
to confirm their choice. The Opposition gained the day. 
After a hot debate, lasting for a week, it was agreed that 
the right of election was with the House, and that the 
confirmation by the king followed as a matter of course. 
This debate at once served to show Charles and his 
advisers the temper of the House. 

When this matter had been settled, the Commons 
took up again the impeachment of Lord Danby. On 
finding the proceedings renewed, Danby pre- 
pared for flight ; but, on being advised that if £fp"each- 
he fled, an act of attainder might be passed "^^""^ , 

o JT resumed. 

agamst him, he surrendered. He now pleaded 
there could be no prosecution, as he held a pardon from 
the king. Charles had not only granted him a free pardon, 
but had also given him a warrant raising him to the rank 
of Marquis of Carmarthen. This enraged the Opposition, 



30 The Fall of the Stuarts, dfc. a.D 

who formed the majority in the Commons. They ap- 
peared at the bar of the House of Lords, and demanded 
judgment against Danby, whose plea, said they, was 
void. They also denied the right of the bishops to vote 
on the validity of the pardon, arguing that if the pardon 
was not valid, and if Danby were then to be convicted of 
treason, death would be the punishment, and spiritual 
lords could not legally vote on questions of life and death. 
The Lords discussed the questions raised by the Com- 
mons ; they agreed to appoint a Committee of the two 
Houses to regulate the manner of the impeachment, but 
they resolved that the lords spiritual had a right to sit 
and vote in all cases until the actual question of life and 
death was before the House. 

But the impeachment of Danby was a secondary 
matter to the great object of Shaftesbury and the Opposi- 
Second tion, which was the exclusion of the Duke of 

Exclusion^ York from the succession to the throne, as 
Bill passes being a Roman Catholic. The second read- 
mons. ing of a bill, to effect this object, was car- 

ried on May 21 in the Commons by 207 votes against 
128. 

On May 27 Charles, acting by the advice of Temple, 
who feared the temper of the Commons, prorogued the 
Habeas parliament, and soon after by proclamation 

Corpus Act. dissolved it. But this did not take place until 

Dissolution 1 , . 1 , . .,,. 

of the third the kmg had given an unwillmg assent to the 
menrof passing of an Act, commonly called the 

Charles II. Habeas Corpus Act. Charles assented in order 
not to provoke a more active hostility to the court in 
the elections now pending. The Act requires a judge, on 
application, to issue an order to any jailor to produce the 
body (habeas corpus) of a prisoner ; when, if the offence 
with which he is charged is bailable, and he can give 
security that he will appear in a court of law to answer 



1679. Whigs and Tories. 3 1 

the charge, he is set free until the trial. The Act also pre- 
vents anyone from being sent to prison ' beyond the seas;' 
it orders every prisoner to be indicted in the first law 
term after his commitment, and to be brought to trial at 
latest in the subsequent term. No man, it enacts, after 
being enlarged, can be recommitted for the same offence. 
This Act is one which has done much in preserving the 
liberties of Englishmen, but it is no addition to the con- 
stitutional law of our counti-y. The same rights existed 
before, but they had been impaired through the criminal 
servility of the judges and the tyranny of the Crown. The 
Habeas Corpus Act only re-enacted and re-asserted the 
rights and privileges of every Englishman. Blackstone 
does indeed say in his Commentaries, ' The point of 
time at which I would choose to fix the theoretical perfec- 
tion of our public law, is the year 1679, after the Habeas 
Corpus Act was passed, though the years which imme- 
diately followed it were times of great practical oppres- 
sion.' But he also admits the Act was needed only on 
account of the ' pitiful evasions ' of judges and court 
lawyers. 

Meantime the trials of those accused by Oates and his 
accomplices were continued during the spring popj^h 
and summer. Twelve persons were found guilty trials con- 
and executed. Wakeman, the queen's phy- 
sician, was acquitted. 

Section VI. — Whigs and Tories, 

In the months of August and September the elections 
for the new parliament were going on, and the candidates 
supported by the court were generally de- charies' 
feated. It was evident that the new parlia- fourth Par- 

1 J . , . . liament 

ment would meet with a greater majority elected, but 
against the ministers than the last one. Charles p^'O'^^s^^^- 
placed but little confidence even in his selected ministers. 



32 The Fall of the Stuarts, &€. a.d. 

Fearing that he should find the new parhament uncompro- 
Secret mising, he had already entered into fresh and 

treaty with secret negotiations with Lewis. He begged him 
not to lose this opportunity of making England 
for ever dependent upon France. A treaty was therefore 
entered into. On condition that a pension of 1,000^000 
livres (about 40,000/.) was paid to him annually, for the 
space of three years, Charles agreed not to assemble 
parliament during that time. He consequently prorogued 
the new parhament immediately on its meeting in 
October, without the consent, or without having asked 
the consent, of his council. 

Temple, Essex, and Halifax resigned their offices. 
„ . ,. Sunderland, w^ho never willingly resigned a 

Resignation ' o y o 

of Temple, placc, retained his. The new ministers 
HaTifaJ!" chosen by the king were Lawrence Hyde, 
Sfd Go£i- -^^^^ °^ Rochester, and Sidney Godolphin, Earl 
phin take of Godolphin. Rochester was a brother of the 
their places. ^^^^ Duchcss of York, a Cavalier as well in poH- 
tics as in habits of life : a strong adherent of Church 
principles, he both drank hard and lived hard. 

Godolphin was a clever and cool-headed courtier, and 
an enthusiastic sportsman. His political principles sat 
easily upon him. He was a Trimmer, not upon conviction 
as Halifax was, but from interest. He cared only for 
office, horse-racing, and cock-fighting. 

Rochester and Sunderland endeavoured to persuade 
Charles to break off his negotiations with Lewis, and to 
summon the parhament, but the prorogation had been 
already announced, and Charles was unwilling to run the 
risk of offending Lewis, and of having the Exclusion Bill 
thrust upon him. 

The Duke of Monmouth had been acting as the king's 
representative in Scotland, but Shaftesbury sent for him 
to return, for the kmg was not well. His arrival in 



1679. Whigs and Tories. 33 

London was celebrated by popular rejoicings. The Duke 
of York, hearing of Monmouth's presence at james and 
court, hastily set off from Brussels, and hurried Monmouth. 
to Windsor, where Charles lay seriously ill. The king, as 
the only chance of preserving peace, ordered Monmouth 
off to Holland, and sent James to Scotland as Lord 
High Commissioner. He also dismissed Shaftesbury 
from the presidency of the council. 

Shaftesbury in revenge took still more active steps 
in exciting the country to clamour for the Exclusion Bill. 
The anniversary of the accession of Queen 
Ehzabeth, November 17, was celebrated burj^dis- 
throughout England with extraordinary mani- [he Pres^i°"^ 
festations. Loud and deep were the execra- dencyofthe 
tions hurled against Papists and all who were 
supposed to have any sympathies with Rome ; the effigies 
of the Pope and the Duke of York were publicly burnt ; 
and a ' black box ' was carried about in triumph. On 
November 28 Monmouth appeared suddenly in London, 
and although ordered by the king to return again to 
Holland, he obstinately remained. Addresses were signed 
in every county, and in every borough, pray- ^^jj-gg 
ing the king to call parliament together at an and Ab- 
early day. Shaftesbury and the Opposition 
consequently received the name of '■ Addressers.' The 
ministers and the court met these addresses by obtaining 
counter addresses to the king, expressing abhorrence of 
such proceedings, as tending to interfere with the king's 
prerogative of summoning and proroguing parliament. 
They were therefore entitled ' Abhorrers.' 

But these party names were speedily changed into the 
now farnihar ones of Whigs and Tories. The Opposition 
were nicknamed Whigs, a term of reproach whigs and 
which had been originally apphed to the Tories. 
strictest sect of Scottish covenanters, and is said to have 
M,H, D 



34 TJie Fall of the Stuarts^ &c. a.D. 

been a local expression in Galloway for sour whey. The 
court party were called Tories, a name borrowed from 
the most wild and savage of the Irish outlaws. 

From this period the two great political parties in 
England have been called by these names ; and students 
may consider the Whigs as * ranged under the banner of 
liberty/ the Tories under that of ' loyalty ; ' the Whigs as 
seeking the security of the constitution ' by new maxims 
of government/ the Tories ' by an adherence to the old.' 

Section VII. — Meal-tub Plot. 

Oates's time of prosperity was not at an end, although 
the public enthusiasm in his favour had begun to turn. 

The trade of discoverer of plots still seemed a 
informer, lucrative One, and a man named Dangerfield, a 
Danger- profligate scoundrcl, who had been branded, 

whipped, and imprisoned for felony, now ap- 
peared on the scene. Prompted probably by some hangers- 
on of the Duke of York, he discovered to him a supposed 
conspiracy of the Presbyterian party, to put the king to 
death and to seize on the government. Being rewarded by 
Charles and James, he proposed to substantiate the truth 
of his statement by papers which were concealed in the 
house of Colonel Mansel, a Presbyterian. The house was 
searched and the papers were found, but their forgery 
was so apparent that no one could be misled by them, 
and it was easily proved by Colonel Mansel that Danger- 
field had access to the room in which they were found. 
The alleged Presbyterian plot came to nothing, but 
the scoundrel now turned on his employers. He swore 
that the pretended plot was invented in order to disguise 
a real one ; that this real plot was a Catholic one, and 
that not the Presbyterians but the Roman Catholics were 
the culprits. He declared that the papers which would 
prove the real plot, were concealed in a 7neal-tub in the 
house of a Mrs, Collins, who had been in the employment 



1679. The Cotwenticlers in Scotlafid. 35 

of Lady Powys, wife of one of the five Roman Catholic peers 
now in the Tower. The papers were found. Lady Powys 
and Mrs. Collins were arrested. The former was soon 
discharged, the grand jury ignoring the bill against her ; 
the latter was tried and acquitted. 

The panic caused by the murder of Godfrey was 
evidently subsiding, and the popular faith in informers 
beginning to wane. 

Section VIII. — The Conventiders in Scotland. 

Before England and Scotland were under one king, it 
was the obvious policy of an enemy of England to stir up 
strife between the two nations ; and even now, when the 
same king ruled over both nations, the danger had not 
passed away, for jealousy still remained to divide 
them. The Scotch were jealous lest their peculiar laws 
and customs should be changed, and their Mutuairela- 
independence taken from them. The English tionsof 
were jealous lest their trade should suffer by and Scot- 
the Scotch being allowed to participate in it ^^"'^• 
on equal terms. England was weakened whenever Scot- 
land was in a state of disquiet, and as Lewis XIV. did not 
wish the influence of England on the Continent dimin- 
ished, he, through his ambassador, urged on Charles the 
necessity of keeping Scotland tranquil. Now there were 
two means of pacifying Scotland, — conciliation, or 
severity. Lewis's belief in absolute monarchy led him 
to recommend the latter. 

Episcopacy had been introduced for the second time 
into Scotland at the Restoration. But although the mon- 
archy was popular in Scotland, the Church of c^^^^^^^^ 
England was not, and in spite of the warnings hatred of 
of those Scotchmen who knew their country- 
men best, Charles and his advisers were bent on forcing 
the Enghsh Church on the people. The first Lord High 



2,6 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.D. 

Commissioner, Lord Middleton, had allowed considerable 
latitude to the clergy in their conforming to the Church ; 
but the Duke of Lauderdale, who had succeeded him, 
had induced the subservient Scotch parliament (virtually 
nominees of the Crown) to pass more and more severe 
laws against Presbyterianism, so that its followers, driven 
from their chapels, had to hold their meetings by night, 
on the moorside or in the forests. 

An insurrection of the Presbyterians had broken out 
in 1666 and had been suppressed. In 1668 Sharp, arch- 
bishop of St. Andrews, and the bishop of 
archbishop Orkney, were shot at. The bishop was 

of St. wounded, the assassin escaped, but the arch- 

Andrews. ^ . 

bishop had marked well his appearance. Six 

years afterwards the archbishop recognised in one 
Mitchell, a shopkeeper and noted Presbyterian, the fea- 
tures of the man who had shot at him. Mitchell was 
brought before the privy council, and under the promise 
that his life should be spared was induced to confess. 
The archbishop insisted on his execution. In order to 
extract from him the names of his accomplices, if he had 
any, the poor wretch was several times put to the torture, 
the archbishop hiiPxSelf actively assisting. Then he 
was placed for some time in solitary confinement, and 
afterwards, contrary to the promise made him, and in 
deference to the archbishop's wish, he was executed. 

Lauderdale and the archbishop forthwith carried per- 
secution to its utmost limits. The Presbyterians, or con- 
venticlers as they were called, were set upon by dragoons 
ThePresby- at their meetings on the hillsides, and so in 
terians rise, self-defcncc they carried with them their 
swords as well as their Bibles. Resistance was sure to 
bring upon them the vengeance of the wild Highland 
troopers. But in the Western Lowlands, in Galloway, 
Ayrshire, Kircudbrightshire, Dumfries, where the hills 



1679. The Conventiclers in Scotland. 37 

are rugged and wild, and the towns are few and far be- 
tween, where the farmers and peasants have always been 
characterised by a sturdy spirit of independence, and 
where the names of Prelatist and Papist were held 
equally accursed, resistance to Lauderdale and his proud 
archbishop was openly proclaimed. 

' The Highland host came upon them.' So the insur- 
gents designated the large bodies of fierce 
Highlanders, speaking no language but Gaelic, ^If^ a^"" 
obeying no law but that of their chiefs, who quartered 

■' ° 'on them. 

were sent to live in free quarters among them. 

The conventiclers were goaded into revenge. As, so 
argued they, Jael's murder of Sisera was acceptable to God, 
in like manner it would be a worthy deed to compass the 
death of those who persecuted the Lord's saints. 
Carmichael, the commissioner of the council, Munier of 
and Archbishop Sharp, had by their activity Archbishop 
rendered themselves particularly hateful. So 
a band of fanatics, animated by religious enthusiasm, de- 
termined on their murder. Carmichael, ' the cruel, bloody 
man,' escaped, but on Magus Muir, five miles west of 
St. Andrews, they came upon Sharp. He was in his 
carriage accompanied by his daughter. Shouting' Judas, 
come forth,' they dragged him from the coach, and, de- 
spite his own entreaties and offers of money, despite the 
tears, and prayers, and personal struggles of his 
daughter, they put him to death before her eyes. Then 
solemnly thanking God for His aid in accomplishing the 
deed, and leaving on the moor the body of him who had 
never shown any mercy and to whom no mercy was 
shown, they made all haste to the West to rouse their 
brethren to arms. 

The Highlanders had just been withdrawn, when in- 
telligence was brought to the council that Sharp had 
been murdered, and that the murderers had escaped to 



38 The Fall of the Stuarts, &€, A.D. 

the West. They learnt also that the murderers had been re- 
inforced, and at a village called Rutherglen had burnt the 
obnoxious acts of parliament which favoured episcopacy 
and placed a declaration of hostility in the market-place. 
n x, c Graham of Claverhouse was stationed at 

ijrranam oi 

Claverhouse Glasgow with three troops of horse which he 
Drumclog, had himself raised. Graham was a kinsman of 
June I. Montrose, who had lost his life in the cause 

of loyalty, and whose deeds he was desirous of 
emulating. He had served first in the French army, 
and had then joined the guards of the Prince of Orange, 
and had been distinguished for his coolness and bravery. 
Putting himself at the head of his troops, he marched out 
of Glasgow to punish the murderers and their fanatical 
followers. The conventiclers, about - 600 in number, 
armed for the most part with pikes and pitchforks, were 
posted on a rising ground protected on the two flanks 
and the front by a marsh, near the village of Drumclog. 
Graham, not taking the trouble to form his men, attacked 
the insurgents with rash impetuosity, and, embarrassed 
by the boggy ground, in which his horses stuck fast, 
was beaten off with considerable loss. 

The conventiclers daily received large reinforcements, 
so the troopers drew off towards Edinburgh. By Lauder- 
dale's advice, all the king's troops in Scotland were con- 
centrated near the capital. Monmouth, who was at 
present Charles's representative in Scotland, took the 
command of the royal army. The conventiclers, whose 
numbers were now about 4,000, had advanced to Both- 
well Moor, near Hamilton. Here they were 
Bothwell '^^t by Monmouth at the head of 5,000 regu- 
Brigg. lar troops. The insurgents were posted in a 

June 22. . . • 1 1 ^1 1 n ' 1 

Strong position, with the Clyde flowing between 
them and Monmouth's army. But there was a bridge 
over the river, and this bridge they had not destroyed. 



1679. The Conveiiticlers in Scotland. 39 

They were unprovided with cannon, whilst Monmouth 
had a strong force of artillery. Monmouth brought his 
guns to bear upon the bridge, and after a steady resistance 
on the part of the rebels, cleared the way for the passage 
of his soldiers. The insurgents retreated in good order to 
a hill near, called Hamilton Heath. Here the dragoons, 
eager to avenge their former defeat, twice charged them, 
and each time were driven back. Then a body of the 
hated Highlanders made one of their fierce onslaughts on 
them, but with no effect. The ammunition of the con- 
venticlers began, however, to fail. Artillery, when once 
posted in battle, were as yet not easily moved ; but 
Monmouth, with considerable difficulty, got his guns, 
which had been turned on the bridge, again into posi- 
tion, and their fire completed the discomfiture of 
the conventiclers. They gave way, then retreated, and 
then fled, for retreat soon changes into flight with 
irregular and ill-trained troops. Claverhouse and his 
troopers, eager for vengeance, charged amongst 
the panic-stricken fugitives, and, disdaining to ment of the 
make prisoners, butchered them unrelentingly, survivors. 
Monmouth in vain endeavoured to restrain them. Graham 
earned well his name of 'bloody Claverhouse.' About 
1,200 of the rebels laid down their arms. For these 
Monmouth tried to get as good terms as possible from 
Lauderdale and the servile Scotch parliament. Mon- 
mouth's clemency was reported in London. 

It was at this juncture that Charles's illness took place, 
and Monmouth was hastily summoned by Shaftesbury to 
England. 

The Duke of York arrived in Scotland as Lord 
High Commissioner. A Roman Catholic himself, 
James hated Presbyterianism with a hatred james in 
more intense than that of the most devoted Scotland, 
adherent to * Church and State ' principles. The cruelties 



40 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

committed by the privy council when he was at its head, 
are almost incredible. Anyone suspected of having 
given refuge to a conventicler, or anyone thought to be 
unfriendly to the government or episcopacy, was liable 
to be put to the question before the council. Confessions 
extorted by torture from some were made use of against 
others whom the government deemed disloyal. Neither 
age nor sex insured safety. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE FOURTH AND FIFTH PARLIAMENTS OF CHARLES II. AND 
THE STATE TRIALS OF 1681. 

Section I. — Exclusion Bill. 

All through the winter of 1679 and the spring of 1680, 
Lewis, through his ambassador Barillon, endeavoured 
1680. ^^ \MxVi to cheat each of the political parties 

. in England. He assured Charles he was the 

English only friend on whom he could rely, and ex- 

parties. horted him to govern without summoning a 

parliament. He expressed to James his approval of his 
conduct in Scotland. He told Shaftesbury and the 
Whigs, that if civil war were forced on them by the 
obstinacy of the king, France might be reckoned on for 
support. 

In February 1680, James left Scotland to pay his 

brother a visit at Windsor. He soon gained a complete 

ascendancy over Charles. This became ap- 

York pre- parent to Shaftesbury, who determined once 

sented as a for all to put an end to the influence of the 

recusant 

Duke of York. He therefore (June 26) pre- 
sented James before the grand jury at Westminster as a 
' Popish recusant.' Some of the judges who were present 



1S30. Exclusion Bill. 41 

on the bench, in alarm asked Shaftesbury to retire with 
them into a private room for conference. During their 
absence the Lord Chief Justice took upon himself the 
bold step of discharging the grand jury, and thus quash- 
ing the proceeding. 

Monmouth in the meantime was making a progress 
as a royal prince in the West of England, and, in spite 
of Charles's declaration of his illegitimacy, was 

• 1 . ^T , • 11 Mon- 

received everywhere with joy. Nothmg could mouth's 
shake the faith of the people in their ^ idol, P'^°§'^^^s- 
the Protestant Duke.' 

The king began to tire of his brother's unpopularity. 
The Whigs became more and more outspoken, and 
Charles saw before him no alternative but 
summoning the parliament and sending James parliament 
back to Scotland as quickly as possible. The oT'ber 21 
Duke of York therefore returned to the North, 
and the fourth parliament, which had been elected a 
year previously, met for business on October 21. 

Godolphin and Sunderland urged the king to consent 
to the bill for excluding the Duke of York from the suc- 
cession, if it should be again brought forward. A bar- 
gain was now being struck between Charles and the 
Whig Opposition. If Charles had been trustworthy the 
Exclusion Bill would have passed The proposed agree- 
ment was, that in consideration of the Commons voting 
the king a large supply of money, the bill should have 
his sanction. But Charles wished the supplies to be 
voted first, and then the consideration of the Exclusion 
Bill to follow, Shaftesbury and his party knew, that if this 
were conceded, Charles would throw them Exclusion 
over, and so the compromise fell through, by Com-^ 
On November 1 1 the Commons passed the ^°^^i ^"5„ 

•^ rejected by 

Bill excluding the Duke of York from the tiie Lords, 
succession, and on the 15th it came on for discussion 



42 The Fall of the Sttiarts, &c. a.D. 

in the House of Lords. The Upper House rejected 
it by 63 votes against 30. Essex and Shaftesbury were 
the great advocates for the bill, Halifax its chief opponent. 
The king was present at the debate, and brought his 
personal influence to bear on all who were thought waver- 
ing. All the bishops in the House, fourteen in number, 
voted in the majority. 

The Whigs showed their vexation by acting in the 

most factious manner in the House of Commons. They 

carried a declaration that the ' abhorrers,' (who 

JSeedings ^^^ signed petitions expressing ' abhorrence ' 

of the of the address to the king asking him to 

* summon parliament), or in other words the 

whole Tory party, were guilty of contempt of parlia- 
ment ; and that members of parliament who had pre- 
sented these petitions were consenting parties to a breach 
of privilege. They claimed to sit as a court of justice 
upon all such, thus making the Habeas Corpus Act 
practically of no effect. They threatened Chief Justice 
Scroggs with impeachment for discharging the grand 
jury when Shaftesbury presented the Duke of York. 
They declared that until the Duke of York was excluded 
from the succession they would vote no supplies. 

Charles, and the ministers Rochester and Sunderland, 
feared that no course was open to them but a dissolution. 

Section H. — Viscount Stafford. 

The Lords, after their rejection of the Exclusion Bill, 
were occupied with the trial of Lord Stafford. He was 
Stafford's One of the five peers imprisoned on the ac- 
'^"a'' cusation of Oates and his fellow-informers. 

On November 30 his trial began before his peers, and on 
December 7 he was found guilty by 55 votes to 31. Staf- 
ford, in his defence, clearly proved the untrustworthy 
character of Oates's evidence, but to no avail. The 



1681. The Oxford Parliament of \6%i. 43 

Whigs, the minority in the House of Lords, were joined 
in voting for his execution by many of the court party, in- 
stigated by the king. Charles wished to show, in acting 
thus, that his firmness in the matter of the Exckision Bill 
was not caused by any predilection for papists. Among 
those also who voted in the majority were all the peers, 
save one, to whom Stafford was related. ' Lord Stafford 
was not a man beloved, especially of his own family.' 

Stafford's execution took place on December 29. He 
protested his innocence on the scaffold, and and execu- 
the spectators answered, ' God bless you, we ^'°"- 
believe you, my lord.' 

Section HL — The Oxford Parliament of 1681. 

The Commons still continued in a most impracticable 
mood, and the scenes of violence in the House almost 
equalled those of 164 1, which preceded the out- 
break of the civil war. In addition to voting 
that no supplies should be granted until the Exclusion Bill 
was carried, the Whigs prevailed on the House to declare 
the king's ministers promoters of popery, and to assert 
that all who lent the king money were guilty pom-th 
of hindering the sitting of parliament. So on parliament 
January 18, 1681, the parliament was to be '"^^^^ • 
dissolved. But on the last day of the session, in the 
short quarter of an hour before the moment of dissolution, 
the majority voted that the opponents of the Exclusion 
Bill were traitors bought by French money ; that the 
papists caused the great fire of London in 1666 ; that 
Monmouth's offices, of which the Duke of York had de- 
prived him, should be restored to him ; and that the in- 
iiiction of penal laws on dissenters was an encourage- 
ment of popery. 

The new parliament was ordered to meet at Oxford 
March 21. Charles hoped that the Tory principles which 



44 ^-^^^ F<^^1 of i^i^ Stuarts, &c. a.D. 

prevailed in the university might have some influence on 

Parliament the members of the new Parhament. 

meets at 'pj^g king in the meantime entered into 

Oxford, _ _ " 

March 21. fresh intrjgues with Lewis, and received from 
Charles him fresh bribes. Charles indeed ' was now 

a'^ain ^^^^ ^ery uneasy ; he saw he was despised all 
intrigue. Europe over, as a prince that had neither 
treasure nor power/ 

The session lasted but eight days. Shaftesbury and 
the Opposition mustered in great numbers. They were 
accompanied by large bodies of followers, who filled the 
city; they either really feared personal violence, or thought 
to overawe the Tories by a display of their strength. 
Parliament '^^^ Commons insisted on the Exclusion Bill, 
dissolved and the king was obstinate in refusing it ; so 
this, Charles's fifth and last parliament, was 
dissolved, without doing any business, on March 28. 



Section IV. — The tactics of the Kmg and the Whigs. 

Charles, immediately after the ' Oxford ' parliament 
was dissolved, published a ' declaration ' in which he set 
Charles's forth at length his reasons for taking ' the step,' 
' deciara- that is, the dissolution. This declaration was 
well received, not only by the Tories and the 
clergy, but by many moderate men who feared that the 
inordinate demands of the Whigs would cause a renewal 
of civil war. 

And in fact the foolish loss of temper exhibited by the 
Whig leaders in the closing scenes of the fourth parlia- 
ment of Charles, and their impracticability in the short 
session of the fifth parliament at Oxford, had alienated 
Charles's from them the sympathy of many. The 
popularity. timid wcre frightened, moderate men were 
disgusted liberal churchmen stood back. The tide of 



1681. Tactics of the King and the Whigs. 45 

popular feeling had turned in favour of Charles, and at this 
moment, if he had acted with prudence and honesty, the 
loyalty inherent in the English nation would have been 
his. But Charles would not act with honesty. 

Trusting in the king's popularity, the court party 
hurried on state trials, which from the unjust verdicts 
obtained in them for purposes of party tactics, 
threw into the shade the ' Titus Gates' trials.' ^'^'^ ^"'''^■ 
Two of these state trials will be mentioned here ; the one 
that of the Roman Catholic archbishop Plunket, the other 
that of ' the Protestant joiner,' Stephen College. 

In the trial of Plunket, the king allowed an innocent 
man to be executed, in order that the court might 
appear to be opposed to popery and, this Reasons for 
being shown, that the trial of the great Whig •^h^"^- 
leader, Shaftesbury, which was meant to follow, should 
not be supposed to indicate partiality to the Roman 
Catholics. 

In the latter trial, that of the Protestant College, not 
only was a ' gross iniquity ' perpetrated, but it was perpe- 
trated in order that the temper of the nation, and the sub- 
serviency of judges and juries, might be tested, before 
proceeding to the trial of Shaftesbury. 

Section V. — Trial and Execution of Archbishop 
Plunket. 
Plunket, titular archbishop of Armagh, was an 
amiable man, zealous for his religion, but also zealous for 
purifying his Church, by getting rid of priests who caused 
scandal by their lives of intrigue and immorality. He 
had at various times suspended some of these from their 
duties, and others he had excommunicated. The success 
of Titus Gates and his followers induced some of these 
degraded priests and their companions to lay charges of 
high treason against their primate. But no Irish grand 



46 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.D. 

jury, although Irish grand juries were Protestant, would 
find a true bill against Plunket, for his integrity was well 
known, and the bad character of the informers was no- 
Piunket torious. The archbishop had come to England, 

comes to having been assured that he could not leg-ally 

England, , i • • 1 , 

be put upon his trial to answer the same 
charges as to which no true bill had been found in 
Ireland. He was notwithstanding put into prison imme- 
diately on his arrival in London, and detained there some 
months. 

In May 1681, three weeks after the king's 'declara- 
tion/ Plunket was brought before the King's Bench. He 
. . asked for time to prepare his defence, and to 

high bring over witnesses in his favour from Ireland, 

treason, Y'lWQ weeks wcre allowed him, but this time 

was insufficient to send to the north of Ireland for wit- 
nesses and to bring them back. When the trial began, 
the informers swore that Plunket had collected money 
and armed men, and had invited a French occupation of 
Ireland. They had during their stay in London, where 
the calling of false witness was now well understood, 
been thoroughly trained in their lesson. Although 
Plunket denied any personal knowledge of the witnesses, 
and exe- ^e was found guilty and was condemned to 
cuted. death. During the interval between his sen- 

tence and his execution, favourable reports of his character 
were made to Charles, both by Lord Essex and by 
the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. The sentence was 
nevertheless carried out on July i. 

After this judicial murder of Plunket, the court thought 
that no Whig could accuse the king or the Tories of a 
leaning to Popery. 



1681. Stephen College. 47 

Section VI. — Trial of' the Protestant Joiner^ 

The trial of Stephen College is, in some respects, even 
more scandalous than that of Archbishop Plunket. 
College, a joiner by trade (known as the Stephen 
Protestant joiner), and a citizen of London, was College. 
a Presbyterian of intemperate zeal. He had been told off 
at Oxford, whilst the parliament was sitting, by the direc- 
tion of Shaftesbury, to watch certain emissaries of the 
court who were employed in poisoning the 
minds of the dissenters against the Whigs. Bill found 
He was accused of a design to seize the person ^^'^^^^ ™- 
of the king at Oxford. The plot was sworn to by the 
same crew of informers who swore away Plunket's life, 
but their evidence was now contradicted by Gates. For 
this Oates lost his pension. The London grand jury 
refused to believe the evidence of the informers, and 
threw out the indictment. 

The judges, however, decided that as the attempt on 
the king was to have been made at Oxford, College 
ought to be tried there. It was felt also that 
an Oxfordshire jury could be better relied on at^Oxford 
than a Middlesex one, to give their verdict in and found 
accordance with the wishes of the court. 
So the judge and prisoner were removed to Oxford, and 
College was there found guilty on the same evidence on 
which a London grand jury would not place him onhis trial. 

During the trial, the judges and counsel for the 
prosecution vied with each other in straining the law 
against the prisoner, and in applying the most opprobrious 
epithets to him. 

College was put to death on August 31. The minis- 
ters of Charles hoped that the nation would ^nd exe- 
believe that both papists and dissenters con- '^"'^^'^• 
tinued to plot against the king, and that both wereencou- 



48 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

raged in their designs by all opposed to the court, 
especially by ' those traitorous Whigs.' 

Section VII. — Indict?nent of Lord Shaftesbury. 

Charles and the court party knew they could depend 

on the servile obedience of the judges ; they thought also 

that the condemnation of College proved that 

is com- "'^^* juries were becoming amenable to their in- 

mitt^d to fluence. They therefore proceeded at once 

trie Tower, 

to attack Shaftesbury, the Whig leader. 
For this purpose the Irish witnesses, who had already 
given evidence against Plunket and College, now laid 
before the council an accusation against Shaftesbury 
of having tried to induce them to give such evidence 
as would convict the queen and the Duke of York of 
complicity in the Popish Plots. On this accusation an 
indictment of subornation of perjury was laid against 
Shaftesbury, and he was committed to the Tower to 
-ind hi wait his trial. His papers were seized, and 

papers amongst them, it is stated, there was found 

the rough draft of an association for sub- 
verting the government, attached to which was a list of 
all Shaftesbury's friends in each county, arranged alpha- 
betically. This list was afterwards made use of by the 
court party for crushing their opponents. The rough 
draft was unsigned, and was certainly not in Shaftes- 
bury's handwriting. 

The indictment for high treason was framed and the 
trial was appointed to take place in London, in which 

city the offence was said to have been com- 
against^^" mitted. The same judges. North and Pem- 
Shaftesbury berton, wcrc on the bench, as had presided at 

quashed. . _ ^ 

the trial of College ; the same false witnesses 
were prepared. To the utter dismay of the court, the grand 
jury declined to find a true bill against Shaftesbury. 
Shaftesbury was at once set free, November 24. 



1680. The Camero7tians. 49 

The court laid the blame of their failure on the corpo* 
ration of the city. They declared that Shaftesbury's 
escape was owing to the culpable partiality of the sheriffs, 
who were Whigs, and who had selected Whigs only to 
form the grand jury. 



CHAPTER IV. 

SCOTLAND IN 1680 AND 1681. 

Section I. — The Cameronians. 

We have seen that the Duke of York, after the defeat of 
the conventiclers at Bothwell Bridge, instituted the most 
stringent proceedings against them. 

Cameron, one of their most noted preachers, affixed 
publicly, in the market-place of Sanquhar, a declaration, 
in which he excommunicated Charles and the 
Duke of York, as ungodly usurpers and tyrants, 
and called on the people to free Scotland from men whose 
papistical principles were repugnant to the Most High 
God. He then openly took the field. The conventiclers 
who followed him were now c3,lled Cameronians. The 
insurgents were few in number, and badly armed. Three 
troops of dragoons were sufficient to disperse them (July 
20, 1680), and in the melee Cameron himself was slain. 
Many prisoners were also taken. 

Cargill, another enthusiast, then took the lead. He 
was, if it were possible, more determined in his hatred 
and detestation of the Stuarts than Cameron 
had been. He formally excommunicated 
Charles for perjury, adultery, drunkenness, and other 
crimes ; James, Duke of York, for idolatry ; the Duke of 
Monmouth for slaying the faithful at Bothwell Bridge ; 

M.H. E 



50 The Fall of the Sttmris, &c. A.D. 

and all the ministers of the crown in Scotland for various 
heinous offences. The Duke of York retaliated by tor- 
turing and putting to death the Cameronians already in 
his hands. 

But Cargill could not long withstand the forces that 
were sent against him. He and most of his followers 
were captured. Cargill was executed July 1681. Hack- 
stone, one of the murderers of archbishop Sharp, was 
A.D. 1681. amongst the prisoners. The accounts of the 
inflicteTon Cruelties inflicted on the prisoners, by the Duke 
prisoners. of York's owu ordcrs, appear almost incre- 
dible, and equally so the well-established fact that the 
duke took personal pleasure in witnessing the infliction 
of tortures. Writer after writer bears witness to the 
unshaken constancy and firmness displayed by the suf- 
ferers, even by weak women. Of Hackstone it is stated 
that when, weakened by wounds, he was first brought be- 
fore the council, he refused to answer their questions ; 
that then the council, fearing he would sink under 
the slower sufferings of the ordinary tortures, sentenced 
him at once to have both his hands cut off, and then to 
be hanged ; that when the first part of the sentence was 
carried out and his hands had been cut off, he asked 
them, with an unshaken voice, if they did not mean to 
cut off his feet also; and that, notwithstanding all the 
loss of blood, neither did his calmness desert him to the 
end, nor did he once lose his senses before he was 
hanged. Those of the Cameronians whom James did not 
put to death were either sent to the ' plantations ' in 
America, or were drafted into a Scottish regiment 
in the pay of the King of Spain. The former punish- 
ment was equivalent to being sold as slaves, the latter 
was a most ingenious form of cruelty. A Scotch 
Cameronian hated the Pope and Roman Catholics as 
a Jew of old hated a Samaritan, and he was now 



1681. The Scotch Parliament of i6Si. 51 

forced to serve under the banner of the King of Spain, 
the tool of the Papacy. 

Section II. — T/te Scotch Parlimjtent of i62>i ajid the 
Earl of Ar gyle. 

The Scotch Parhament summoned by the Duke of 
York met in July 1681. One of the measures carried was 
a Test Act. The chief provisions of this Act Test Act 
were repugnant to Presbyterians ; for by it, all carried, 
who held office in Church or State were compelled to 
make a declaration affirming the doctrine of passive 
1^ obedience to the Crown and undertaking never to attempt 
any alteration in the government of either Church or 
State. 

Even of the episcopal clergy a majority were opposed 
to the Act. They argued that if the king by a proclama- 
tion were to abolish episcopacy, by the terms Conse- 
of this new Test Act the clergy would be many^Lign 
bound to support him. The Episcopal Church office. 
of Scotland was moreover, as yet, imperfectly constituted. 
Neither its liturgy nor its discipline had been legally con- 
firmed, yet by the terms of the Act both clergy and laity 
undertook to attempt no alteration in it. The Church 
would therefore, perforce, remain unsettled. The result 
of the passing of the Act was that about eighty, and these 
the most pious and esteemed, of the episcopal clergy 
resigned their preferments rather than make the declara- 
tion. 

Of the nobility many hesitated and procrastinated. 
One of the most powerful noblemen in Scotland was 
Archibald Campbell, Earl of Argyle, chief of The Earl 
the clan Campbell. He was son of that of ^gyle- 
Marquis of Argyle who had taken so prominent a part 
in dethroning Charles I., and had suffered 'death at the 



\ 



52 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.l. 

Restoration. The marquisate became extinct, but the 
son was permitted to inherit the old earldom of the 
family. 

Argyle had conformed to episcopacy, and had hitherto 
been useful to the Duke of York by assisting him in his 
plans for reducing the Scotch to submission, James 
seems, however, not to have wholly trusted Argyle, and 
to have considered him half-hearted in his adhesion. He 
thought Argyle had shown greater cordiality to Mon- 
mouth, when he was the king's representative in Scotland, 
than to himself. Argyle also claimed certain hereditary 
privileges which gave him almost royal authority in the 
Highlands, and these privileges James was anxious to 
secure for the Crown. 

Argyle was both a privy councillor and a commis- 
sioner of the treasury. For either of these offices the 
Test Act required him to qualify. James called on him 
to comply with the Act. At first Argyle declined, but 
he afterwards agreed to make the required declaration, 
with an explanation subjoined, to the effect that the Act 
was in parts contradictory, and that he, by complying 
with it, did not debar himself from attempting in his 
station any amendment in Church or State. This reser- 
vation of Argyle's was twisted by the crown lawyers of 
Scotland into the crime of leasing making,' or of en- 
deavouring to sow discord between the king and his 
subjects. On this accusation Argyle was brought to trial. 

The Marquis of Montrose, the hereditary enemy of 
the Campbells, was ' chancellor,' or foreman of the jury. 
Argyle's Argyle was found guilty, and sentenced to 

tence^an'd death. It is asserted that it was never intended 
escape. to Carry out this sentence, but Argyle had no 

reason to trust to the good faith of a Stuart. Aided by his 
daughter-in-law. Lady Sophia Lindsay, and disguised as 
her page, he effected his escape into Holland. The brutal 



1882. William of Orange. 53 

and officious Scotch council proposed that the lady, for 
lier share in her father-in-law's escape, should be publicly 
whipped. Even James, not usually lenient, would not 
consent to this. 

James's power was now apparently established in Scot- 
land. The Presbyterians seemed to be crushed. The 
clergy who were scrupulous had resigned. The nobles 
who had shown an inclination to be independent had 
either left the kingdom or had been reduced to silence. 
The treatment which Argyle had received from James 
proved how little mercy would be shown to anyone offend- 
ing, so that the Duke of York was feared as well as hated. 



CHAPTER V. 



ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND FROM 1682 UNTIL THE DEATH OF 
CHARLES II. (1685). 

Section I. — William of Orange visits Charles. William ^ 
ya?nes, aiid Monmouth. 

William of Orange visited the court of Charles in the 
spring of 1682 in order to obtain his aid in withstanding 
the encroachments of Lewis XIV. In this ^ ^^ ^gg^, 
object Wilham failed, for Charles had just William 

• 1 -IT 1 •! /- T • -f-i identifies 

received another large bribe from Lewis. But himself with 
Wilham's visit was made at an opportune the Whigs. 
moment, for it enabled him to observe personally the state 
of affairs in England, and to form an estimate of the leading 
men of the state, and the relative value of their party 
politics. He seems to have come to the conclusion that 
it would be only by the triumph of Whig measures, and 
the return to power of Whig statesmen, that the influence 
and support of England could be withdrawn from Lewis 
XIV. Henceforth, therefore, the leaders of the popular 



54 I'h^ Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

party looked to William to afford them moral and mate- 
rial assistance in withstanding the successive encroach- 
ments on the constitution, made, under the advice of 
Lewis, by Charles and James. 

James was surprised and displeased at Charles having 
permitted William to pay him a visit. He remonstrated 
James is with Charles by letter ; he moved one of the 
^"syy ^\ king's mistresses to plead his cause, and to in- 

Williams ° r 7 

visit. tercede for him. He asked that at any rate he 

might also be allowed to see his brother. On William^s 
departure from London, Charles gave way, and invited 
James to meet him at Newmarket, where he intended to 
stay for some days to enjoy the races. 

James entered into a full explanation of his conduct 
in the North. He seems to have convinced Charles of 
the expediency of his measures ; he obtained from him 
full power to continue his course of persecution, and to 
place the administration in the hands of trustworthy 
noblemen. He also obtained from Charles permission 
to quit Scotland after he had thoroughly settled the affairs 
of that kingdom. 

At Yarmouth James embarked in the Gloucester 
frigate for Leith. In the night the ship struck on a sand- 
james's bank and became a wreck. James escaped 

shipwreck. y^it]\ difficulty, Caring more for the safety of 
his spaniels and his confessor than of his sailors and 
retinue. One hundred and thirty lives were lost. Amongst 
the survivors was Captain Churchill, the future Duke of 
Marlborough. 

The Scotch council met James at Edinburgh. To 
those nobles who could be depended on was entrusted, 
James with the title of lords justices, the duty of 

feaves Scot- enforcing uniformity and of stamping out the 
land. Cameronians. James then finally left Scotland, 

but his policy was still continued with unabated vigour. 



1682. The Corporations. 55 

The persecution suffered by the Cameronians, and by 
those suspected of aiding them, or of being even friendly 
disposed towards them, still forms in the present day the 
staple of the 'household' stories of the lowlands of 
Scotland. 

Monmouth, to assure his friends and to increase his 
popularity, adopted the same plan which he had before 
found successful As in 1680 he visited the west of 
England, so now in 1682 he made an almost royal progress 
through the north-western counties, being everywhere 
welcomed with enthusiasm. 

Charles was naturally incensed at this, and on Mon- 
mouth's return to London caused him to be arrested, 
and to be held to bail in 10,000/. for his future good con- 
duct. 

The Earl of Shaftesbury, on Monmouth's disgrace, 
fled to Holland. There he died a few weeks Death of 
afterwards (January, 1683). Shaftesbury. 

Section II. — Attacks on the Charters of the Cor- 
Poratio7is. 

The failure of the impeachment of Shaftesbury had much 
annoyed the court party. At the election this year (1682) 
of city officers, the Tories through intimida- ^^^ 
tion and bribery gained an ascendancy, and Sheriffs 

r -1 11- tTTi • • T J elected for 

many of the leadmg Whigs m London were the City of 
on various pretences prosecuted and fined. London. 
The new sheriffs, whose duty it was to name the grand 
jury, were carefully selected. One of them was brother 
to Judge North, soon (December 20) to be appointed 
lord keeper and created Earl of Guildford. 

The burgesses or borough representatives in parlia- 
ment were chosen principally by the corporations of the 
boroughs. The corporations of most of the towns were 



56 The Fall of the Stuarts^ &c. a.D. 

Whigs, and were firm supporters of Protestant principles 
Charter of and of clvil liberty. They were consequently 
Londoii'^^ opposed to Charles, or rather to his policy. 
attacked. It was thought that a good opportunity pre- 
sented itself to destroy the independence of these 
boroughs. The majority in the Corporation of the City of 
London, now composed of Tories, were not likely to offer 
any violent opposition to a measure of the court. It was 
determined therefore to make a bold attack on the privi- 
leges of the corporation of the chief city of the kingdom, 
and if this succeeded, to attack the charters of other 
boroughs in detail. 

The City of London claimed certain rights and privi- 
leges, amongst others that of levying tolls on various 
commodities, on the authority of bye-laws passed by itself. 
A proceeding ' quo warranto ' was issued, to enquire by 
what warrant the corporation exercised their rights and 
privileges. If it were found that this warrant was insuffi- 
cient, it was held that the charter of the corporation was 
forfeited. 

On June 12 (1683), the City of London was declared 
to have forfeited its charters. Several other towns lost 
A.D. 1683. their charters in a similar manner soon after- 
loses^its wards. The decision, that a corporation, by 

charter, and an irregular action on its part, forfeited its 
boroughs charter and privileges, was not according to 
likewise. \^^^ j^ affords another proof of the shame- 
ful sycophancy of the judges. 

The infamous Chief Justice Jeffreys, soon to acquire un- 
enviable notoriety, was conspicuous in pronouncing judg- 
ments agreeable to the king. He is said to have ^ made 
all the charters, like the walls of Jericho, fall down before 
him,' and to have ' returned ' from the circuit ' laden with 
surrenders, the spoils of towns.' For many towns, rather 
than incur the expense and risk of a trial, voluntarily sur- 



lgS2. The Rye House Plot. 57 

rendered their charters, and received fresh ones from the 
Crown. If Charles had summoned another parhament 
the Whig majority would have been much lessened, for 
owing to the new constitution of the corporations, crown 
nominees would have been returned. 

Section III. — The Rye House Plot. 

The successful attack on the corporations marked a 
great increase in the influence of the court. The Whigs, 
and not only the Whigs, but all Englishmen who loved 
their country, knew full well that these attacks on the 
liberties of the state were instigated by Lewis XIV., and 
that they were steps in reducing England to the same 
despotic rule as France. An attempt was therefore made 
to counteract these schemes for undermining the consti- 
tution. A ^confederacy' was formed. It is Aconfeder- 
doubtful whether the leaders, in carrying out ^^^ formed. 
their projects, were prepared to go to the length of involving 
their country in a civil war. Some of them had before 
disapproved of Shaftesbury's measures, as too revolu- 
tionary. They therefore could hardly have contemplated 
an appeal to arms. But those * agitations ' which are 
undertaken by politicians in the present day for the 
purpose of obtaining a change of ministry, or the repeal 
of an obnoxious statute or tax, were then called con- 
spiracies and high treason. 

The chief persons of the confederacy were Mon- 
mouth, the Earl of Essex, Lord Russell, Lord Grey, 
Lord Howard of Escrick, Algernon Sidney, Leaders of 
and Hampden, grandson of the patriot. Lord the con- 
Essex and Lord Russell were known to ^ ^"^^^y- 
be opposed to violent measures. Of the others. Lord 
Grey was more likely to be reckless. He was a man of 
bad private character ; he had been the defendant in one 
of the most disgraceful trials known in the English law- 



58 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

records, involving the honour of more than one noble 
family ; he was looked on as a man whose reputation was 
already gone, although he was Monmouth's most trusted 
friend. Sidney also might not have been one of the 
prudent ones. He was a republican by conviction ; and 
a philosopher who, although somewhat visionary, aimed 
consistently at religious and civil liberty, at freedom of 
thought and action. 

Unfortunately for the leaders of the Whigs, certain of 
Shaftesbury's followers were aware of the existence of 
Assassina- the Confederacy, and knew that active measures 
tion plot. were being planned for overthrowing the as- 
cendancy of the Tories. They knew that Monmouth and 
the Whigs wished to upset the court influence, and to 
exclude the Duke of York from the succession. They 
thought that there was a more speedy and effectual way 
of carr>'ing out their wishes. They plotted to assassinate 
Charles and the Duke of York as they returned from 
Newmarket races. 

A man named Keeling, a vintner, whose trade had 
fallen off and who was anxious to obtain some share 
^, ,. in the pensions and places bestowed on in- 

Keeling ^ ^ - . . 

discloses formers, told Lord Dartmouth, a favourite of 
the plot. ^^^ Xyvk.^ of York, that a terrible plot for slay- 

ing the king and the Duke of York was preparing in the 
city. Keeling had borne the character of being an active 
Whig, and had consequently been entrusted with some of 
the secrets of the conspirators. His story was that a 
man named Rumbold had a farmhouse called Rye 
House, not far from Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire ; that 
this house was close to the high road from Newmarket 
to London ; that it was proposed to conceal some twenty 
or thirty men in that house, which was surrounded by a 
moat, and had also large farm buildings in which horses 
and accoutrements could be hidden; that the king's coach, 



1683. The Rye Hoiise Plot, 59 

with its small escort of only five guards, was to be sur- 
rounded as it passed by the house; that the guards were 
to be shot down, and the king and duke killed ; that this 
plot was to have been carried into execution on the king's 
previous return from Newmarket, had it not been that 
the king had returned two or three days earlier than was 
expected, owing to a fire having broken out in the royal 
lodgings at Newmarket. As there had been a fire at the 
king's apartments on that visit, Reeling's story appeared 
to be in some degree trustworthy. Rumbold therefore, 
and the other conspirators named by Keeling, were ar- 
rested, and in their possession were found various letters 
showing they were in correspondence with the Whig 
leaders. 

Warrants were issued for the arrest of Monmouth, 
Lord Grey, Lord Russell, Lord Howard of Escrick, 
Algernon Sidney, Lord Essex, and others. 

All those engaged in the actual assassination plot 
who were captured, were tried and condemned on the 
evidence of Keeling. But of the leaders in 
the political plot, or the confederacy, Mon- turns king's 
mouth and Lord Grey escaped ; Essex, ^^^'^^"ce. % 
Howard, Lord Russell, and Sidney alone were taken. 
Howard offered, when brought before the council, to turn 
king's evidence. In 1674 he had been engaged in politi- 
cal intrigues together with Shaftesbury, and when the 
crown lawyers had declared the intrigues -r • 1 f 
treasonable, he had then obtained his pardon Lord 
and court favour by betraying his accomplices, ^"s^^'^- 
He now again adopted the same course. On July 13, 
1683, Russell was brought to trial. 

The counsel for the Crown took advantage of every- 
thing which might press hard against the prisoner. When 
Russell requested that some one might take notes on his 
behalf, he was told a servant might do so. His wife was 



6o The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

present, and fulfilled that duty for him. Lord Howard 
was brought forward to give evidence against the prisoper. 
He had just commenced by stating that the six leaders of 
the conspiracy were Monmouth, Essex, Sidney, Russell, 
Hampden, and himself, when a slight stir was evident in 
the court, and one of the officials whispered something in 
the witness's ear. His voice began to falter, and he could 
hardly be heard. The Lord Chief Justice requested him 
to speak louder, and asked him why he was so agitated, 
Howard said, 'An unhappy accident hath just happened, 
that hath sunk my voice.' 

The unhappy accident was the death of Lord Essex. 
On that morning, just as Lord Russell's trial had begun. 
Death of the earl asked for a razor ; and, when it was 
Lord Essex, brought him, wcnt into his sleeping-room and 
cut his throat. So determined was he, that his head was 
almost severed from his body ; and many persons doubted 
Execution whether so fearful a wound could have been 
of Russell. self-inflicted. Lord Russell was found guilty, 
and sentenced to death. He was executed July 21. 

No man ever died who was more lamented. He was 
the most affectionate of husbands. When he had taken 
His leave of his wife, he exclaimed, * Now the 

character. bittcrness of death is passed.' He was most 
beloved by his friends. Lord Cavendish would have saved 
him by exchanging clothes with him and remaining in his 
stead in prison. He was a true patriot ; his defence was 
that he laboured not to change the constitution of his 
country, but to assert it. His name will always be revered 
by Englishmen, for his virtues were those which all men 
honour, his failings those which most men pardon. For 
his failings were, too credulous trust in such men as 
Howard, and indiscretion in allowing himself to be 
carried too far by his indignation at the way in which 
his country's freedom was being trampled on. 



1683. The Rye House Plot. 6 1 

Sidney's trial took place in November. Lord Russell 
had at the commencement of his trial made an objec- 
tion to the jury because they were not all free- _ . , , 

r^i 1 1 • • Trial of 

holders. The answer to the objection was Algernon 
that the law directed that the jury should ^^^"^^y- 
be chosen from freeholders, in order to ensure their 
being men of some property, and therefore by presump- 
tion more intelligent ; that this would not be necessary 
in the case of the jury trying Russell, because it was a 
jury of the city of London, and that in fact a sufficient 
number of freeholders could not be found, for few of 
the principal merchants and tradesmen 'living in the 
city were freeholders. Sidney was to be tried by a 
Middlesex jury, and he also objected to some of the 
members as not being freeholders. Jeffreys presided at 
the trial as Lord Chief Justice. He overruled the 
objection, although the principle had been admitted in 
Russell's trial, for in that case the exception was claimed 
for a jury of the city of London, and the reason for allow- 
ing the exception would not apply to the county of 
Middlesex. This overruling of Jeffreys was delivered 
in terms which were studiously cruel and vindictive. He 
maintained the same conduct throughout the trial. He 
hurled bitter invectives against the prisoner, he strained 
the law against him when the law was doubtful, he 
tightened the fetters of the law when the law was clearly 
in favour of the Crown. 

The chief witness against Sidney was Lord Howard. 
This time he told his tale with greater confidence, and 
in a more coherent form. The statute which regulates 
the form of trial for high treason requires that there 
should be a second witness to corroborate the first. The 
Crown produced no second witness to corroborate Lord 
Howard, but Jeffreys ruled that a manuscript found 
amongst Sidney's papers might be put in to supply the 



62 The Fall of the Stttarts, &c. a.d. 

place of the second witness. The manuscript had never 
been pubhshed, and was not proved to be even in Sidney's 
handwriting. It advocated a republican form of govern- 
ment, and Jeffreys again ruled that it afforded corrobora- 
tive evidence, inasmuch as the doctrines advocated in it 
were such as, when carried into practice, might lead to 
such acts as Lord Howard swore to. The Lord Chief 
Justice therefore allowed opinions to be proof of facts. 
Sidney argued against this illegal decision in vain. Not- 
withstanding that prisoners on their trial for treason were 
allowed counsel to argue disputed points of law, although 
they might not cross-examine witnesses nor address the 
jury, yet Jeffreys refused to allow Sidney any counsel, 
maintaining there was no doubtful point of law in his case. 

Sidney was found guilty, and executed. He died with 
the calm composure of a philosopher. He was one of the 
g. , , last of that generation of pure republicans who 

death and could broolc neither the enlightened rule of a 
Cromwell nor the senseless despotism of a 
Charles. Of noble family, and of refined habits, he was 
led by his philosophy to be a despiser of kings and a lover 
of equality. He advocated religious freedom, not from 
love of religion, but because his philosophy caused him 
to think all religions equally faulty. His was a speculative 
and not a practical mind. His habits were rather those 
of a student than of an active politician. 

Monmouth having made an abject apology for his 
offences was pardoned and returned to court, for the 
Monmouth king ' Still loved him passionately.' Weak and 
Hampden "^^^^^ though he was, he was not however so 
b fined. degraded as to play the part allotted to him, 

that of evidence for the crown with Howard. It was ne- 
cessary for Hampden's conviction to find two witnesses, 
for he had no written papers to be brought against him. 
Halifax and the Duke of York therefore hoped that 



1684. Duke of York reinstated in Office. 63 

Monmouth would by his evidence corroborate that of 
Howard. This Monmouth flatly refused to do. He was 
accordingly subpoenaed to appear at the trial. He imme- 
diately fled to the Continent. 

Hampden escaped with a fine of 40,000/. Others 
who were inculpated in the '■ Rye House Plot/ as they 
fell one by one into the hands of the Government, suf- 
fered on the scaffold. Some of these were even seized 
abroad and brought to England for trial and conviction. 

Section IV. — Duke of York reinstated in Office. 

The confidence of the king's party, that is, of the 
ultra-royalists, was unbounded. 

Tangier, the dowry of the queen, that African town 
for the possession of which so much diplomacy had been 
exerted, for which Dunkirk had been aban- Tan^^ier 
doned, and on the fortification of which so dismantled. 
much money had been expended, was now dismantled, 
and its garrison brought back to England. 

The soldiers, instead of being discharged, were still 
kept in pay. The king had previously had distinctly 
attached to himself, and paid by him, a certain 
number of guards. This addition was the forms^the°" 
commencement of a standing army. The commence- 

° J ment or a 

troops from Tangier (forming regiments still standing 
existing as the ist Dragoons and the 2nd and ^^^^' 
4th Foot) brought up the personal army of Charles to 
1,700 cavalry and 7,000 foot. Paid by the king, owing 
allegiance to no other authority than that of the king, 
this army was looked on with extreme disfavour by all 
lovers of the constitution. For England's constitutional 
force was the militia, which could be called together by 
parliament through the lords-lieutenant of the counties, 
A large standing army was feared as a means by which 
a tyrant might be able to coerce a free people. This in- 



64 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

crease to the guards, although as yet the whole army- 
was hardly large enough to intimidate London alone, 
made the Whigs uneasy, and in like proportion raised 
higher the spirits of the court party. 

Charles now therefore thought himself strong enough 

to reinstate his brother in his office of lord high admiral 

and in his seat at the council. James had 

A.D. 1684. 1 T 1 • 1 1 1 /-^ 

James been obliged to resign both these offices m 

reinstated. j^^^, when the Tcst Act was passed which 
forbade anyone to hold office unless he qualified for 
doing so by receiving the sacrament according to the 
rites of the English Church, and by signing a declaration 
against the Romish doctrine of Transubstantiation. The 
king now ' dispensed ' with the provisions of the Act, and 
James was restored to his dignities. 

Although the Whigs were discomfited and 5,000 

troops were quartered in London, it is doubtful whether 

this reinstatement of the Duke of York in 

PnncGSS 

Anne his officcs would not havc caused much indig- 

PHnce'^ *° nation and outspoken dissatisfaction, had it 
George of not been for the wedding in the previous year 
(1683) of Anne, James's second daughter, with 
Prince George of Denmark, a Protestant. The marriage 
was a popular one, and did much to remove the suspicion 
with which James, as an avowed Papist, was regarded. 

Section V. — Death of Charles 11. 

The year 1685 opened with gloomy prospects for the 
Whigs. The leaders were either exiled or disgraced, and 
A.D. 1685. no Parliament had been summoned since 1681. 
Engkridln ^he courticrs were revelling in extravagance 
1685. and profligacy, and the money for enabling 

them to do so was received from France. The courts of 
justice were disgraced by the bullying demeanour and the 
undisguised partiality of the judges. Romish priests, in 



1685. Death of diaries II. 65 

defiance of law, openly exercised their functions and 
celebrated mass. The air was thick with rumours of 
plots, Protestant as well as Papist. Many of the chief 
towns, the strongholds of the national party, had lost their 
charters altogether, or had paid heavy fines to preserve 
them with diminished privileges. 

The English government was directed by Barillon, 
ambassador of Lewis XIV., and England, under the 
* Trimmer ' Halifax, was fast settling down into a French 
province. 

On February 5 Charles was seized with a fit of 
apoplexy. Dr. King, one of the court physicians, hap- 
pening to be present, bled the king, which Death of 
gave him temporary relief ; but on the follow- Charles il. 
ing day another attack occurred, which carried him off 
after a few hours. His death-bed was marked by the 
same duplicity as his life had been. Bishops filled the 
room, anxious to administer the sacrament according to 
the rites of the Church of England to the dying man, so 
that all doubt as to his being a sincere member of their 
church might be removed. But Charles put them off. In 
the meantime, the Duke of York had, at intervals, carried 
on a whispered conversation with him, which ended 
in his telling those assembled that it was the king's 
wish that the room should be cleared of all but two or 
three of his personal attendants. Clergy and physicians 
were therefore hurried out of the room, and immediately 
one Huddleston, a Romish priest, in disguise, entered by 
a back staircase. To him the king made his last con- 
fession, and from him received absolution and extreme 
unction. 

Thus died Charles II. of England, a tool in the hands 
of Lewis XIV. of France. A tool by whose use Lewis 
hoped to gain the supremacy in Western Europe, trusting 
that then the Imperial Crown and Spain might in due 

M.H. F 



66 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. A.D. 

course follow. Through Charles also, Lewis hoped that 
the spirit of Protestantism, the spirit of freedom, which was 
essentially opposed to his projects, might be so crushed 
in England as to be unable in future to afford either 
moral or material support to those on the Continent who 
persisted in adhering to it. 

Charles was naturally attractive. He was amiable 
in conversation, and had the manners of a well-bred 
Character of gentleman ; but of the feelings of a true gentle- 
, Charles II. nian he was ignorant, for he was a sensualist 
and a most selfish one. His great object was to be freed 
from care, to gratify every passing desire, to be sur- 
rounded by smiling faces — faces of handsome men and 
beautiful women — to be popular wherever he went, and 
into whatever company he might be thrown. Good tem- 
pered, because good temper saved annoyance ; generous 
to those around him, because it was too much trouble to 
refuse trifling boons ; he was nevertheless one of the 
most cruel and hardhearted of men. For he was the 
incarnation of selfishness ; he would sacrifice anyone for 
his self-gratification ; he believed in no virtue and shrank 
from no vice. 

' Like master, like man ;' as was the king, so was the 
court. 'We are much indebted,' says Hallam, 'to the 
Charles' memory of the courtiers and favourites of 

court. Charles II. They played a serviceable part 

in ridding the kingdom of its besotted loyalty. They 
saved our forefathers from the Star Chamber and the 
High Commission Court ; they laboured in their vocation 
against standing armies and corruption ; they pressed 
forward the great ultimate security of English freedom, 
the expulsion of the house of Stuart.' 



1678, The Chambers of Retmion. 6j 



CHAPTER VI. 

LEWIS XrV. AND FRANCE, TO THE REVOCATION OF THE EC^ICT 
OF NANTES (OCTOBER 12, 1685). 

Section I. — The Chambers of Reunion. 

Lewis XIV., after the signing of the Treaty of Nim- 
wegen, resolved to follow the policy advocated by Col- 
bert, and to give France breathing time to ^ ^ ^g^g 
replenish her resources ; but he also made up Lewis' 
his mind to try what advantages in determin- 
ing the boundaries of the kingdom he might gain by 
diplomacy, and what privileges over the neighbouring 
states he might venture to exercise. 

At the Peace of Westphalia (1648), the bishoprics of 
Metz, Toul, and Verdun, already long possessed by 
France, had been formally ceded to her. To ^ ^ ^. 
these bishoprics had been formerly attached L?wls esta- 

Diishes trie 

certain fiefs in Germany, and over these fiefs chambers of 
Lewis now claimed sovereignty. The claim Reunion. 
had been left unsettled at the Peace of Nimwegen. Lewis 
(1679), reopened the question, and added further compli- 
cations with regard to his newly acquired territories of 
Elsass (Alsace, 1648), <ind Franche Comte (1678). This 
claim of Lewis XIV. may be likened to a king of France 
demanding of a king of England the recognition of cer- 
tain rights over English lands, because these lands had 
formerly been part of the possessions of Norman abbeys, 
when Normandy and England were under one monarch- 
In order to give some legal sanction to his claims, Lewis 
made use of the parliaments of Metz (Lothringen), 
Besangon (Franche Comt^), and Breisach (Elsass). In 
these he established chambers, called ' Chambres Royales 



6S The Fall of tJic Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

de Reunion/ to investigate the claims put forth by the 
French king. 

The members of these chambers had been well pre- 
pared by Lewis's emissaries, and they decided that, by 
_, . . virtue of the Treaties of Westphalia (1648), 

Decisions it~> /■ \-r/7 

of the the Pyrenees (1659), and Nimwegen, various 

a™ ^^^- territories on the borders rightfully belonged 
to France. 

The effect of this decision was to take away from the 
King of Sweden his duchy of Zweibriicken (Deux Fonts) ; 
and from the Elector of Trier (Treves), the Elector Pala- 
tine, the Duke of Wiirtemberg, and other sovereign 
princes, several counties and lordships. 

The city of Strasburg was an imperial city, but Lewis 
exerted all his ingenuity to get possession of it. He 
A D 1681. managed to obtain a decree from the ac- 
Lewis gains commodating chamber of Breisach, to the 
by strata- effect that Strasburg had been formerly a 
^'^™- dependent fief and could not be alienated 

from Elsass, which was now French territory. The 
municipality of the city was gained over to the French 
cause by bribery. A large fo^fce was hastily and secretly 
assembled in the neighbourhood. The magistrates had 
removed all means of defence. The imperial officer 
acting as resident in the city had no alternative but to 
leave. Without one drop of bloodshed, Lewis thus gained 
possession of a city which was considered the key of the 
Upper Rhine. Strasburg was forthwith re-fortified by 
Vauban, It was converted into a fortress of the first 
magnitude, and became the bulwark of France on its 
eastern frontier. A medal was struck to commemorate 
the completion of the work, bearing the inscription 'Clausa 
Germanis Gallia ' (France closed to the Germans). 

On October 23, 1681, Lewis entered Strasburg in state. 



1682. Further ambitions Schemes of Lewis, 69 

Section II. — Further ambitious Schemes of Lewis. 

The designs of Lewis on the Imperial Crown were 
now understood by the European princes. It was there- 
fore determined that a strong effort should be . 
madetothwart his ambitious projects. A treaty pares to 
was therefore concluded between Sweden, Luxemburg 
Holland, Germany, and Spain, who engaged tut delays 

r ry / r\ j^ • ^r a time. 

to enforce the observance of the conditions 
of the Treaty of Nimwegen. Lewis had assembled an 
army for the blockade of Luxemburg ; but on hearing of 
this treaty he hastily withdrew his troops, and proposed a 
mediator to adjudge on the validity of his various claims. 
The mediator he proposed was Charles II. of England. 

Pope Innocent XL (1676-1689) had been unfriendly 
with Lewis. He disliked the king's encouragement of 
the Jesuits, and objected to his interference in a.d. 1682. 
purely ecclesiastical matters. But his anger 4e^' Re- 
was roused by Lewis claiming the right of the gale.' 
* Regale/ that is, the royal right to present to all benefices 
in a see as long as the see continues vacant, and to re- 
ceive the income of the see until the new bishop has 
taken the oath of allegiance. This right the pope re- 
sisted. 

Lewis accordingly convoked an assembly of the 
French clergy. Under the influence of Bossuet, Bishop 
of Meaux, the 'Declaration of the Clergy of ^j^gj^^^i^ 
France' was drawn up, March 1682, The ration of the 
declaration asserted : — i, that the pope has ^^^^' 
no power in temporal matters ; 2, that the pope's spiritual 
authority is limited by the canons of the Church ; 3, that 
the pope's decrees are not infallible unless confirmed by a 
general council ; 4, that the pope cannot subvert any of 
the liberties or constitutions of the Gallican Church. A 
royal edict converted this ' Declaration ' into law. The 



70 ^-^^^ Fall of the Stuarts^ &c. A.D. 

pope condemned the Declaration, and ordered it to be 
publicly burnt at Rome. It was many years before the 
difficulty was finally arranged, and then not in the life- 
time of Pope Innocent. He therefore was one of the 
numerous opponents of Lewis's policy. 

If we turn to the East, we shall find that (1683), 
Vienna was threatened by the Turks, whose army lay en- 
camped before the city. Lewis was believed 
A.D. i68h. , ,,.,., 

Lewis to have encouraged the Sultan m his advance 

SpanlV^^ into Europe. He hoped that all the forces 
Nether- and energy of Germany would be engaged in 

contending with the Turks, and that it would 
be unable to give assistance to Spain or Holland. He 
then seized the opportunity to invade the Spanish Nether- 
lands. Courtrai and Dixmuide were taken by him, and 
Luxemburg was threatened. Spain in vain looked for 
succour to her allies. Charles of England was in the 
pay of Lewis ; the emperor was occupied by the Turkish 
war ; Sweden was powerless ; and William, the Stadt- 
holder, could not persuade the States-General to do more 
than make strong protests against Lewis's encroachments. 

In June 1684 Luxemburg fell, and Trier (Treves), 
was taken and dismantled. Holland offered to mediate, 
A.D. 1684. William being evidently aware that the present 
Re^e^Js° "^^s ^ot an opportune moment to continue the 
burg. struggle. The preliminary condition made by 

the States was that their territories should be respected. 
Lewis having agreed to this, Holland concluded a treaty 
of peace with Lewis for twenty years, and compelled 
Spain also to accede, Lewis being permitted to retain 
Luxemburg, but restoring to Spain Courtrai and Dix- 
muide. The emperor also agreed to the treaty, and it was 
formally signed at Regensburg (Ratisbon), August 15, 
1684. 

One clause in this armed truce of twenty years (for 



1684. The Hugue7iots, yi 

such only it was) gave to France possession of all those 
places adjudged to her by the Chambers of Reunion up 
to August I, 1 68 1, but disallowed any claims put forward 
after that date. 

Section III. — Tke Huguenots, and the Revocation of 
the Edict of Nantes. 

The Protestants in France were called Huguenots. 
The origin of the name is doubtful. Some derive it from 
* Eidgenossen ' (confederates), a term used for „ 
the confederates of Switzerland. Others de- Origin of the 
rive it from a small and almost worthless coin "^'^^' 
of the time of the French King Hugues (987-996 j. A 
third and more probable derivation is from ' Hugon/ a 
provincialism used in the city of Tours and its neigh- 
bourhood to denote a nightmare or bad dream (what we 
call a bugbear) ; and naughty children were frightened by 
the threat of sending for Hugon, or King Hugon, So in 
some parts of England the expression King Hugger- 
mugger is used in the same way. This term Huguenot 
then was a term of opprobrium applied by French Roman 
Catholics to their Protestant fellow-countrymen. 

Henry I V., who had succeeded to the throne of France 
in 1589, was by birth a Huguenot. He found that as 
long as he remained a member of that faith 

. . A.D. 1598. 

his kingdom would never be without civil war. Edict of 
He therefore abjured Protestantism in 1593, and ^^^"" 
became a Catholic, but at the same time, he endeavoured 
to propitiate the goodwill of the Huguenots, and to pre- 
vent a renewal of the religious wars which had devastated 
whole provinces of France, by issuing the celebrated 
edict of Nantes, 1598. This edict was one of the first of 
those laws which breathed a spirit of tolerance, and 
aimed a blow at the exclusive claims put forth by the 
Romish Church in Catholic countries. It secured to the 



72 The Fall of the SttmrtSj &c. a.d. 

Huguenots the free exercise of their religion ; admission 
to colleges, hospitals, and schools ; permission to hold 
offices of trust without having to take oaths repugnant to 
their principles ; and, above all, reserved for them certain 
fortified towns to which they might retire for security if 
persecutions arose. 

Under the protection of this edict the Huguenots 
became the most active and wealthy portion of the 
^ , , French nation. Devoting themselves for the 

of the most part to commerce, the chief industries 

ugueno s. ^^^ manufactures were in their hands, and 
on them most of the mercantile prosperity of France 
depended. 

The toleration of doctrines differing from those held 
by the State Church was little understood in the seven- 
A.D. T67S. teenth century, and was totally opposed to the 
persecutes idcas of Lcwis XIV. As soon as Lewis took 
Protestants, xhe rcins of power in his hands, so soon began 
the persecution of Protestants. One by one their privileges 
were curtailed. In 1661 their right of private meetings 
was taken from them. In 1663 decrees were issued for- 
bidding Protestants to keep schools of an upper grade, 
and permitting the children of Protestant parents, while 
of tender age, to change their religion without the con- 
sent of their parents. This harsh treatment of the Pro- 
testants continued until 1666, in which year Lewis was 
persuaded by Colbert to stay his hand, and promulgate 
no new laws against the liberty of the Huguenots. 

In 1675, however, a new disturbing influence made 
itself felt in the person of Madame de Maintenon. This 
Madame de l^dy had been born and bred a Huguenot, but, 
Maintenon, having embraced the Roman Catholic religion, 
showed all the zeal of a convert for her new faith. She 
was the widow of a second-rate author named Scarron, 
and had been employed for many years as governess to 



1684. The Huguenots. 73 

some of Lewis's illegitimate children. Acting in this ca- 
pacity, she had gained the affections of the king. Lewis 
was attracted towards her not so much by her beauty, 
which was mature and ripened, as by her wit, her pru- 
dence, her refinement, and her rare gift of conversation. 
He experienced a new pleasure in the society of a woman 
who flattered him without fawning on him, and who ap- 
pealed to those sentimental feelings which a man of ill- 
regulated mind is apt to call his better nature. Under 
the influence of Madame de Maintenon, Lewis returned 
to what she was pleased to designate the paths of 
virtue. Once more he lived on proper terms with his 
queen, Maria Theresa, and he set his mind on effecting 
a reformation in the religious belief of his subjects, which 
should equal the reformation which his own morals had 
undergone. All France therefore was to be converted 
to the Roman Cathohc religion. In this resolve Lewis was 
strengthened not only by the seductions of Madame de 
Mamtenon, but also by the entreaties of the celebrated 
bishop Bossuet, who had been so zealous an ally in his 
quarrel with the pope, and by the injunctions of his 
trusted confessor, Father la Chaise. 

Colbert still strove against these allied influences, and 
for a time with some effect, but in 1683 Col- ^ ^ ^^g 
bert died, and Louvois, now Lewis's minister, Death of 
put no restraint on the king's wishes. 

Shortly after Colbert's death, Maria Theresa also died. 
After a few weeks' interval, Lewis privately, in 73^^^^ of 
his chapel at Versailles, bestowed his hand on Maria 
the widow of Scarron. Henceforth, although and Lewis' 
she was styled only 'Madame la Marquise JJ^f^^"^^^ 
de Maintenon,' she wielded the power of a Madame de 

, , 111 1 • • 1 Maintenon. 

queen, and demanded the submission and 
deference due to a crowned head. 

Now again burst forth persecutions of the Protestants. 



74 The Fall of the Stuai'ts, 6fc. a.d. 

Protestant churches were closed, Protestants were for- 
bidden to plead in the law courts. Marriaeres 

New perse- ^ . ° 

cutions of of Protestants with Catholics were declared 
Protestants. -^ix^^^X, and their children illegitimate. To 
Protestants the tax-gatherer paid daily visits. On Pro- 
testant householders were billeted twice the number of 
soldiers that the law compelled them to entertain. 

In many parts of France, and more particularly in 
the south, insurrections broke out ; and to quell these 
outbreaks, dragoons (soldiers who were accus- 
gonnades. tomcd to serve alike on foot or horseback) were 
A.D. 1684. employed. In many a town inhabited by 
Protestants, brutal atrocities were committed by these 
emissaries of religion. Huguenots, old and young alike, 
were put to death, and the women were subjected to 
every indignity. To escape from these drag09mades, as 
the military persecutions were called, there seemed but 
one means, flight. Hundreds of Huguenots sold their 
property, and were welcomed in England and Holland 
with open arms. This emigration was, however, put a 
stop to by fresh edicts uttered by Louvois. 

In 1685 the finishing stroke was put to the work of 
the conversion of all France by the revocation of the edict 
A.D. 1685. of Nantes. By this formal act not merely were 
'^*^ h°^^d°'^ all privileges taken away from the Protestants, 
of Nantes. but it was Ordered that every Protestant church 
should be demolished ; that the exercise of the Protes- 
tant religion should be punished by perpetual imprison- 
ment ; that all Protestant children should forthwith be 
baptized by Romish priests ; that all Protestant clergymen 
should either renounce their faith, or immediately quit 
France. To enforce these ordinances, the dragon- 
nades became more and more severe. Louvois ordered 
the dragoons to live licentiously.' Fearful were the 
sufferings of the persecuted Protestants. 



1685. The Huguenots. 75 

Thousands (200,000), after undergoing perils of every 
description, escaped to happier lands. Arriving almost 
penniless, their industry and talents soon ^^ uenots 
provided them with plenty. England, Hoi- emigrate 

1 J ^ T^ 1 1-11 and enrich 

land, Germany, Denmark were each enriched foreign 
by the labour of the foreigners. One dis- countries, 
trict of London, Spitalfields, was colonised entirely by 
vVeavers of silk from Lyons and Touraine. In Holland 
manufactures of silk and paper were established by the 
refugees. Berlin was a small city of 1 5,000 inhabitants ; 
thither came an influx of 20,000 Huguenots, materially 
affecting not only an increase of the city, but a corre- 
sponding improvement in its trade and wealth. Among 
the men of eminence who left their country were 
Duquesne, the first of the naval officers of France, who 
died in Switzerland ; Marshal Schomberg, afterwards to 
become the most trusted general of William of Orange; 
de Ruvigny, afterwards Earl of Galway ; Rapin, the his- 
torian ; Papin, the natural philosopher. Many of the 
great English families of the present day were founded by 
the Huguenots. 

The industries of several French towns, such as Tours 
and Caen, were for a time completely ruined, but the 
flatterers of Lewis sang his praises. The ^h F h 
Chancellor le Tellier, being at the point of courtiers 
death, and the news of the revocation of the ^^^°'^^^- 
edict of Nantes being brought to him, chanted the ^ Song 
of Simeon.' Bossuet, the champion of the liberties of the 
Gallican Church against papal encroachments, compared 
Lewis to each of the heroes of Christendom, from 
Constantine to Charles the Great. Madame de S^vigne, 
the refined educationalist, was loud in her praises. The 
freethinkers and philosophers, the voluptuous courtiers, 
and the sneering cynics, all applauded an act which 
removed from France the Protestants. For, said they, 



^6 The Fall of ike Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

these Huguenots will one day become dangerous, since 
their very existence proclaims a principle of revolution 
which a prudent and far-seeing monarch should stamp 
out of his subjects. 



CHAPTER Vn. 

ACCESSION OF JAMES II. OF ENGLAND, 

Section I. — James's Policy on his Accession. 

Charles II. had died February 6; his brother, James 

Duke of York, succeeded him as James II., and was 

crowned April 2-k. Tames knew the opinion 

-Accession i '-/ *r i 

of James which his subjccts held of him. At his inter- 
view with the privy council he declared that al- 
though he had been ever represented as fond of arbitrary 
power, they should find the contrary ; that he would en- 
deavour to maintain the government both in Church and 
State as by law established ; and that as, on the one hand, 
he would never yield the just rights and prerogatives of the 
Crown, so on the other hand, the property and person of 
every subject should be secure. He added that the 
members of the Church of England had always been 
good and loyal subjects, and therefore he would always 
support and defend their Church. 

James II., son of Charles L, was born Oct. 15, 1633; 
he was consequently in his fifty-second year at his ac- 
cession. His education in the troublous times 

C^h ci r3.c t c r 

of James of his boyhood had been much neglected, and 
^^' his naturally slow perception had not therefore 

been quickened. He was one of the most obstinate of 
men ; and his obstinacy often prompted him to run directly 
counter to the wishes of his advisers. When a boy and 
an exile in France, he withstood all his mother's entreaties, 



1685. James' Policy on his Accession. yy 

and all the pressure put on him by the French court and 
clergy, to become a Roman Catholic ; the more he was 
urged, the stronger became his Protestant sympathies. 
But when he had returned to England, and found papists 
hated and feared by English churchmen as well as dis- 
senters, then he became a Roman Catholic, Before the 
Restoration (1660) he had been solicited to join in a 
faction which had for its object the overthrow of the 
authority exercised by Lord Clarendon in the little court 
of the exiled royal family ; James acquiesced at first, but 
in the end married Clarendon's daughter, Anne. Joined 
to this obstinacy was a certain steadiness and regularity 
in business matters, which would have fitted him to be 
a good head of a department in the civil service. His 
administration of the navy from 1660 until 1673 was 
accordingly respectable, and formed a marked contrast 
to the miserable inefficiency presented by the same service 
from 1673 until 1685. But James had none of the hearti- 
ness of manner which rendered his brother Charles, in 
spite of his faults, popular. As licentious and selfish as 
Charles, he had none of the latter's bonhomie ; narrow- 
minded, stern, unforgiving, cruel, his character had but 
few redeeming points. 

James's first wife, Anne Hyde, had died in 1671, 
leaving two daughters ; the elder, Mary, born 1662, and 
married in 1677 to her first cousin, William, james' 
Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of the United family. 
Provinces ; the younger, Anne, born in 1665, and married 
in 1683 to Prince George, brother of the King of Den- 
mark. James had married secondly, in 1673, the Princess 
Mary of Este, sister of the Duke of Modena. She had as 
yet no son, and of her five daughters all had died young. 
Her only son, James Francis Edward, was not born until 
June 10, 1688. 

The accession of James was as peaceful as if he had 



^S The Fall of the Stuarts^ &c. a.d. 

been the well beloved of his subjects. The speech he 
The nominal made to his pHvy council had been industri- 
^d'^ise^sof oi^sly circulated, and had somewhat calmed 
James. the natural feelings of alarm entertained by 

English churchmen. He retained in office the minis- 
ters of the late king. But Lord Halifax was not trusted 
by him ; he could not forgive his conduct in having pro- 
posed, in the short Oxford parliament, a regency bill which 
would have curtailed his powers on his accession. The 
king preferred the other ministers, Rochester, Godol- 
phin, and Sunderland. At the same time he gathered 
around him a secret council of Roman Catholics, whose 
advice he took rather than that of his ministry. This 
secret council, which had with him as much influence as 
can be exercised over an obstinate man, was composed of 
Father Petre, the Jesuit, and the Lords Tyrconnel, Dover, 
Arundel, Castlemaine, and Powys. 

Nothing could have been devised by James more 
likely to arouse the apprehensions of his subjects than 
his first two public acts after his coronation. 
public acts He assisted at the public celebration of a mass 
of James. -j^ ^^ royal chapel ; and he ordered the cus- 
toms and excise duties to be collected as usual, although 
they could not be legally demanded until they had been 
voted by parliament. 

Section H. — Leiuis XIV. a?id ya?nes. 

Some apprehension had been felt by the French 
ambassador, Barillon, that James intended to follow a 
Bariiion policy with regard to France differing from 

* ffect^of ^^^^ which had been followed by Charles. The 

bribery, courtiers opculy declared that England was 

now to be independent, was to assume her proper 
position in Europe, and that the supremacy of France 
was at an end. Barillon represented his fears to 



1685. New Parliaments. 79 

his master, Lewis XIV. The arrogant bearing of 
Churchill, newly created Baron Churchill, who had been 
despatched as special envoy to Versailles to announce the 
death of Charles and the accession of James, in some 
' degree confirmed Barillon's suspicions. Money 
was however already secretly offered to James, independ- 
and Barillon soon found that French money ^"'^^ yields. 
was as necessary to the new king as to the late one. 

James desired the restoration of the Roman Catholic 
rehgion, and freedom from the control of parliament. 
Had he been able to effect these objects with- Mutual 
out the support of France and without French jamesTiid^ 
money, he would have been a happy man, but Lewis. 
he was not able ; and therefore he bore with the patron- 
age, and took the money, of Lewis, although at the expense 
of his pride. 

Lewis desired to meet with no obstacle in his persecu- 
tion of the Protestants in France, and to be looked on as 
the most powerful sovereign of Europe. For these objects 
England must be kept subservient, and money must 
therefore be freely provided, both for the private use of 
the king, and for the judicious bribery of all classes of 
English politicians. 

Section III. — The new Parliaments in England and 

Scotland. 

On April 23, 1685, the Scotch Estates met. As Epis- 
copalians only could sit in them, and as these formed but a 
small minority of Scotchmen, it was not pro- -j-^g Scotch 
bable that the laws passed by them would be Estates. 
acceptable to the great body of the people, who Avere 
ardent Presbyterians. Episcopalians in Scotland were 
always Tories, and James asked them to continue the 
same line of conduct as he had pursued when Lord High 
Commissioner. His letter to this effect was read at the 



8o TJie Fall of the Shiarts, &c. a.D. 

opening of the session, and was willingly obeyed. A still 
more rigid law than had been previously in force was 
passed against the covenanters. It imposed the penalty 
of death and of confiscation of property on everyone who 
preached in a room, or attended an open-air conventicle. 
The giving or taking the oath of the covenant was also 
declared treason. The new parliament also proved its 
adherence to the most extreme form of the doctrine of 
the divine right of kings, for it solemnly declared its 
detestation of ' all principles and positions contrary and 
derogatory to the king's sacred, supreme, sovereign, and 
absolute power and authority.' 

As soon as the act against the covenanters was 
passed, active steps were taken to carry it out. The 
counties of Dumfries, Wigton, Ayr, Lanark, and Kirkcud- 
Persecu- bright, wcre harassed by bands of regular 
tions in the soldiers and militia. The leader of these 
western bands was the same Graham of Claverhouse 

Lowlands. ^^^ -^^^ -^^ jg^^ been defeated at Drum- 
clog, and after the battle of Bothwell Bridge had 
earned the name of ' bloody Claverhouse.' At the 
head of his regiment of dragoons, he was foremost in the 
cruel and murderous attempts to exterminate the cove- 
nanters. There are historians who attempt to excuse the 
cruelties practised as necessary to put down an incipient 
rebellion in a disaffected part of the country ; but the 
perpetrators of the crimes, in their official reports, never 
speak of their victims as rebels, but as wilful and obsti- 
nate nonconformists, and as men holding pernicious doc- 
trines. The persecution was religious more than political, 
and was doubtless an imitation of the dragonnades of 
Lewis, The murders of Brown, the carrier, in Lanark- 
shire, of Gillies and Bryce in Ayrshire, of Margaret 
Wilson and Margaret Maclachlan in Wigtonshire, roused 
the feeling of hatred against James and episcopacy to the 



1685. New Parliaments. 8 1 

utmost. The South-western Lowlands, although crushed, 
were for ever alienated from the house of Stuart. 

The Enghsh parliament met May 19, 1685. In the 
attacks made on the charters of many English boroughs, 
the majority of the electors had lost their 
privilege of voting, and in such boroughs the'^Enflish 
members who were devoted to Tames were re- Parliament 

•' of 1685. 

turned. Tory principles had also undoubtedly 
gained ground. French gold, again, had converted many 
wavering politicians into friends of the court. Yet the 
combination of all these circumstances hardly accounts 
for the servility shown to James by both Houses in the 
two short sessions of 1685. 

James's attachment to the Roman Catholic religion, so 
openly displayed, wrought a great change in the feelings 
of English churchmen. In the reign of 
Charles parliament had continually opposed England in 
the court and defended the constitution, and opposition, 

' whilst par- 

the Church had as constantly supported the liament is 
king ; but, in the beginning of James's reign, 
churchmen, in fear of Rome and of attempts being made 
to reconcile England with the pope, became the defenders 
of the constitution, and formed the Opposition in parlia- 
ment, which now, for the first time in the century, was 
tamely submissive to the wishes of the sovereign. 

The first measures passed by parliament showed 
James he might depend on its zeal and sub- Parliament 
mission. A revenue of two millions was grants 
granted to the king. The severities of the krge^rfve- 
laws against treason were also increased. ^'^^^ ^'^f , 

° makes fresh 

Amongst other clauses it was enacted that laws against 
' any peer of the realm or member of the 
House of Commons moving to alter or change the de- 
scent of the Crown, should be adjudged guilty of high 
treason, and should suffer accordingly.' 

M.H. G 



82 The Fall of the Stuarts^ &c. a.d. 

Section IV. — Trials of Oates, Dangerfield, and 
Richard Baxter. 

James could not forget bow his honour, his rehgion, 
and even his Hfe had been attacked in past years by the 
Trial of falsc witnesscs in the so-called Popish Plots. 
Titus Gates. Many of them were dead or had retired into 
obscurity, but two, Gates and Dangerfield, were still 
enjoying the proceeds of their false swearing. Gates was 
tried on a charge of perjury and was found guilty. 
Jeffreys, the lord chief justice, presided at the trial. The 
sentence passed was a barbarous one, taking even into 
consideration the enormity of the crime which Gates had 
committed. He was condemned to be degraded from his 
orders, to be fined heavily, to be imprisoned for life, to be 
set in the pillory both in Palace Yard and in front of the 
Royal Exchange, to be flogged by the common hangman 
from Aldgate to Newgate on one day, and on the next 
from Newgate to Tyburn, and if he survived these flog- 
gings to be set in the pillory four times each year as long 
as he lived. Strange to say, although the floggings were 
carried out with the utmost rigour. Gates did survive 
them, and lived to see not only his sentence set aside but 
his pension restored to him. 

Dangerfield was tried for libel, was convicted, and was 
also sentenced to be whipped from Aldgate to Newgate 
Trial of and from Newgate to Tyburn. But in his 

and"or^^'^ case the result was more tragic than in that 
Francis. of Gatcs. Half dead from the flogging, he 

was jeered at by a hot-headed Tory lawyer named 
Francis. Dangerfield, with the little strength left him, 
spat in Francis's face, on which the latter struck him 
on the head with a walking-stick, and with such violence 
that he died in a few hours. Francis was put on his 
trial for the murder, was found guilty, and was sentenced 



1685. Refugees in Holland. S3 

to death. Great efforts were made to obtain Francis's 
pardon, but without avail, and the sentence was carried 
into effect. King James doubtless wished, by this refusal 
to grant a pardon, to gain a character for impartiality. 

Yet another trial must be mentioned, as tending to 
show that James and the court party intended to treat 
English dissenters as Scotch covenanters were -^^.j^^j ^f 
being treated. Richard Baxter, the noncon- Richard 
formist divine, had lived to the age of 70 re- 
spected by all parties, churchmen as well as puritans. 
He had even been offered a bishopric by Charles II. In 
a Commentary on the New Testament which he had pub- 
lished v/ere certain reflections on the justice of the penal 
statutes against dissenters. Upon this he was indicted 
for libel. Jeffreys again presided, and the trial is remark- 
able for the brutal insolence displayed by him. Baxter's 
counsel were insulted, Baxter himself was blustered at and 
abused, and on arguing, in the course of his defence, 
that there was no evidence to go before the jury on which 
they could convict, was stopped by Jeffreys exclaiming, 
' Don't trouble yourself about that.' It is needless to add 
he was convicted, was sentenced to a heavy fine, and, 
being unable to pay the fine, was kept in prison for 
eighteen months. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

REBELLIONS OF ARGYLE AND MONMOUTH. 

Section I. — Refugees in Holland. 

There were gathered together in Holland a large 
number of refugees who had fled from England and 
Scotland to avoid the State prosecutions of the domin- 
ant party. Among them were representatives of various 



84 TJie Fall of the Stuarts , &c. a.d. 

political parties, and of various social ranks. There 
A.D. 1685. were zealous Presbyterians, flying from the 
^ ^ country in which prelacy was sanctioned by 

Refugees ^ r j j 

are of law ; there were plotting political intriguers, 

political to whom cvcry fresh intrigue afforded means 

parties. for replenishing their scanty purses ; there 

were large-hearted philosophers, who sought a land in 
which they might study and print, without fear of being 
tried for libel. 

Among all these, two noblemen stood forth, pre- 
eminent from their high rank — the Duke of Monmouth 
and the Earl of Argyle. 

Monmouth was treated kindly by William of Orange, 

and was received by him at his court. But William had 

also hopes that his father-in-law, James, would 

wliUam of° not sacrifice the interests of Europe and of 

Orange England to the French alliance ; and by means 

with the ° ■' 

Duke of of his ambassador at the English court he 

onmou . ^^^ doing all in his power to thwart the 
schemes of Lewis XIV. He therefore endeavoured to 
dissuade Monmouth from taking part in, or encouraging, 
any expedition against James 1 1. To remove him from 
the temptation of his English friends in exile or at home, 
William offered, if he would join the emperor, who was 
then warring with the Turks, to equip and maintain both 
himself and retinue as became an English prince of the 
blood. Monmouth, however, would not accept this offer. 
He was entangled in a discreditable love-affair ; for an 
English noble lady had thrown her fortune and reputa- 
tion at his feet, and had inflamed his mind with the hope 
of becoming king of England. 

The Earl of Argyle, smarting under his unjust sentence 
and detesting James as his personal enemy, had kept up 
constant communication with the Whig noblemen in Scot- 
land. From what he learnt, he thought the time had 



1685. Refugees in Holland. 85 

arrived for dispersing the Scotch parhament and abolish- 
ing episcopacy in Scotland, He was assured Relations of 
also that his clan, the Campbells, could be Monmouth 

, T , 1 withArgyle. 

trusted to a man. It does not appear that 
Argyle had any idea of proclaiming Monmouth as king, 
for there seems to have been no sympathy between the 
two. It was evident, however, that some co-operation, 
and apparent common purpose, would conduce to the 
success of both, and therefore consultations were held. 
The result of these consultations was that two distinct 
expeditions were determined on ; one under Argyle to 
land in Scotland, the other under Monmouth in England; 
and it was further agreed that Argyle's expedition should 
be first fitted out. 

But before either expedition could be made ready, it 
was necessary to take more of the refugees into council, 
and to unfold the plans of the leaders to them. Prepara- 
It was hoped that all would be found united tionsforthe 

^ . - , expeditions. 

and eager for action. But among men 01 such 
different aims and of such various reputations, union 
could be looked for only if some whom all alike respected 
took the lead. Neither Monmouth nor Argyle was such. 
Monmouth was too vain and frivolous, Argyle too proud 
and distant, to kindle enthusiasm in their followers. A 
curious plan therefore was adopted from the practice 
of the Dutch. The Dutch were in the habit of ap- 
pointing one or more civil commissioners to accompany 
every general in command of an army. The commis- 
sioners had the power of controlling the general's opera- 
tions, unless these were entirely in accordance with a 
scheme for the campaign which had been previously 
agreed on. William had himself, as had also many other 
Dutch generals, been sadly hampered by this burgher- 
device. Following then the Dutch precedent, two com- 
missioners were sent with each expedition — with that of 



86 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

Argyle, two Englishmen, Rumbold and Ayliffe, both im- 
plicated in the Rye House Plot ; with that of Monmouth, 
two Scotchmen, Fletcher of Saltoun and Fergusson. 

Section II. — Argyle' s Expedition. ,• 

On May 23, 1685, King James, in a speech to the 
parliament, announced that Argyle had landed in Scotland. 
Argyle sails "^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ sailed with three ships from 
for Scot- Holland on May 2, and, after touching at the 
Orkneys, had sailed down the west coast of 
Scotland, and had landed at Campbelltown, on the east 
side of the peninsula of Cantyre. 

Yet live there still who can remember well, 

How, when a mountain chief his bugle blew, 

Both field and forest, dingle, cliff and dell. 

And solitary heath, the signal knew ; 

And fast the faithful clan around him drew. 

What time the warning note was keenly wound, 

What time aloft their kindred banner flew, 

While clamorous war-pipes yelled the gathering sound, 

And while the Fiery Cross glanced like a meteor round. 

And from Tarbet the fiery cross was sent forth to 
summon thither all the Campbells to join the standard of 
Argyle the great earl. To the number of about 2,000 

lands. i-j-j^g clansmen assembled, but amongst them 

no noblemen or gentlemen of mark. From the neigh- 
bouring western Lowlands came no supporters, as Argyle 
had hoped, for they dreaded to bring again upon them- 
Meetswith selves the visits of Claverhouse's soldiers. 
but little And in the councils of the little army dis- 

support. . i u i. J 

sensions soon arose, as was to be expected, 
from the presence of the commissioners, Rumbold and 
Ayliffe. Contrary to his own better judgment, Argyle 
marched southwards into the Lowlands ; but meeting 



1685. 



Argyles Expedition. 



87 



there with but small encouragement, he determined to 
retrace his steps. The few Cameronians who had joined 
the rebels refused, however, to march farther north than 
Inverary. Argyle was now in perplexity, and to add to 
his trouble, intelligence was brought him that his stores, 




which he had landed and placed for security in a castle 
at the mouth of Loch Riddan, and near which for greater 
protection he had moored his three ships, had been cap- 
tured, and that his ships had been burnt. Supplies failed 
him, and the clansmen began to disband. 

No other course seemed open to Argyle but again to 



88 TJie Fall of the Stuarts^ drc. a.D. 

turn southwards, and to make an unexpected attempt on 
March Glasgow ; in the hopes that if he succeeded 

towards he should awaken the enthusiasm of the Low- 

landers. With reduced numbers, the army 
marched into Dumbartonshire, and, in the rugged country 
between Loch Long and Loch Lomond, found their 
progress constantly harassed by the royal troops who 
were gathering round them. Argyle proposed to attack 
the royal forces, for they were for the most part but newly 
raised militia ; but he was met by objections from the 
commissioners, who had seen soldiers in scarlet uniform 
among them. It was therefore hastily determined to 
endeavour, under the cover of night, to slip through, 
the hostile lines, and to make for Glasgow with all 
speed. 

Movements of troops by night are at all times, and 

under any circumstances, hazardous ; but if the troops 

are irregular, such as the Highlanders were, 

Argyle s •, . • • • ^ t- 

troops such operations are, m nmety-nme cases out oi 

disperse. ^ hundred, fatal. So it was with Argyle's army. 
The watch-fires were left burning to deceive the enemy, 
arid the night march began. The guides lost their way 
in the darkness, and led the troops into some boggy 
ground. Suddenly a report arose that they were betrayed. 
They fled in all directions ; some fell into the hands of the 
enemy, others struggled back into Argyleshire and the 
islands, to carry thither the news of the defeat of their 
great chief. When morning broke, it was found that but 
500 had kept together. Nothing was now left but todis- 
Argyle perse as best they could. On June 17, Argyle, 

aKxl- disguised as a carter, was taken prisoner and 
cuted on 1^^ ^Q Edinburgh. Thither also Rumbold, one 

h:s former ° 

sentence. of the Commissioners, who was wounded, was 
taken. Ayliffe, the other, was captured and sent to 
England. No trial awaited the Earl of Argyle. His 



1685. MonmoiUUs Expedition. 89 

former sentence of death for Icasing-making was still un- 
revoked. On this sentence it was determined to execute 
him at once. Argyle's fortitude never forsook him, for 
he beheved in the justice of his cause, and he thought 
that for his country and rehgion he was bound to take 
up arms. So he calmly met his end. 

Rumbold and Ayliffe were also executed, the latter in 
England, his head being placed on Temple Bar. 

The usual atrocities followed the defeat of the re- 
bellion. The country for miles around Inverary was 
laid waste. Hundreds of Campbells were punjs}^. 
transported to the plantations (that is, to work ments in- 
as slaves in the West Indies), the men with the clan 
the loss of one ear, the women scarred and Campbell. 
branded. The boats and fishing-nets of the islanders 
were destroyed. Many suspected persons had at the 
outbreak of the rebellion been confined in the castle of 
Dunnottar, on the east coast of Scotland. Crowded into 
one dungeon, many of them died. The survivors were 
transported. 

James and his advisers hoped and thought that now, 
at all events, Scotland was quieted. 

Section III. — Moyimotith's Expedition. 

It was early in the month of June that Monmouth 
with his expedition left the coast of Holland. At the 
request of the English ambassador, William j^^^. 
sent an order to the authorities at Amsterdam mouth's 
to detain the ships. But the board at Amster- after 
dam made excuses. They said the vessels •^neffec'^ 
were chartered for the Canaries, and before tuaiiy 

. attempts to 

they could venture to detam them they must detain it, 
have formal proof that their intended destina- ^^'^ ^^^'" 
tion was England. Monmouth determined to put to sea 



go 



The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. 



A.D. 




1685. MonmoiitJi s Expedition. 91 

before further steps could be taken. The expedition 
consisted of three vessels, conveying Monmouth, Lord 
Grey, and only 80 followers, but with arms and equipments 
for a small army. 

William, however, as a proof of his anxiety to assist 
King James, sent back to London, with all speed, three 
Scotch regiments in his service. 

Escaping the English cruisers in the Channel, Mon- 
mouth, after a stormy voyage, arrived on June 11 off 
Lyme, in Dorsetshire, and landed. A few Monmouth 
militia were in the town. These ran away, l^"*^^!",- 

J ' JJorsetshire, 

and the townspeople welcomed him with June n. 
shouts of ^A Monmouth ! a Monmouth !' His stan- 
dard was set up in the market-place, and a proclama- 
tion, of which Fergusson, the commissioner, was said to 
be the author, was put forth. Lt recited various charges 
against James ; that he was endeavouring to subvert both 
the Protestant religion and the English constitution ; that 
he had caused London to be burnt in 1666 ; that he had 
been the originator of the Popish plot disclosed by Gates ; 
that he had assassinated the Earl of Essex, and had 
poisoned the late king. The proclamation asserted also 
that Monmouth was the legitimate son of Charles II., 
and therefore rightful heir to the crown of England. 

The common people flocked to Monmouth's standard. 
The day after the landing, 1,500 foot and a few horsemen 
had joined him. The summer of 1684 had 
been a very dry one ; it had been followed by a people join 
winter so severe that for months all agriculture Monmouth. 
had been stopped, and this hard winter had been again 
succeeded by a long drought. Great distress therefore 
existed, and particularly in the West of England. Popular 
distress often produces popular disaffection. The govern- 
ment of James was credited with much of the scarcity 
caused by the inclemency of the seasons. Monmouth's 



92 The Fall of the Stuarts y &c. a.D, 

advent was therefore hailed with dehght by the ignorant 
peasantry, and Dorsetshire, Devonshire, and Somerset- 
shire suppHed recruits for his forces. 

A few half-trained militia were the only troops to 
oppose Monmouth. Bridport was garrisoned by 300 of 
^ , . . these. Monmouth detached Lord Grey from 

IndecisivG 

skirmish of Lyme to attack Bridport. He placed under his 
Lord Grey, orders about 400 rebel foot and all his small 
body of horse. The militia marched out of Bridport to 
meet Grey. An indecisive engagement took place. The 
militia first wavered and then stood firm ; their firmness 
dismayed Grey's cavalry ; these took flight, and did not 
draw bridle until, accompanied by Lord Grey, they had 
reached Lyme. The rebel foot, although deserted by the 
cavalry, withdrew in good order. 

The militia of Devonshire, under the command of 
the Duke of Albemarle, lord lieutenant of the county, 
Devonshire were assembled at Exeter for their annual 
mihtia training. Putting himself at the head of 4,000 

trus^t- ""' of these, Albemarle marched to meet the in- 
worthy, surgents. Coming up with their advanced 
guard at Axn:iinster, his men proved so untrustworthy 
that, although he was in much greater force, he feared 
an engagement, and retreated to Exeter. Monmouth 
declined to follow Albemarle, and continued his march 
to Taunton, at which town he arrived on June 18. 

Monmouth's entry into Taunton was a triumphant 
one. The church bells rang out ; the young girls of the 
Monmouth town Strewed flowers before him ; standards, 
at Taunton, embroidered with the royal arms, were pre- 
sented to him. Intoxicated with this reception, Mon- 
mouth caused himself to be proclaimed king. Although 
none but the lower orders had as yet joined him, the 
Whig nobility and gentry of the western counties had 
looked on his expedition with no unfriendly eyes, and were 



1685. Monmouth's Expedition. 93 

doubtful as to the course which they should themselves 
adopt. But by allowing himself to be proclaimed king, 
Monmouth disclosed his intentions, and at once caused 
the waverers to draw back. The heir to the throne of 
James was as yet his eldest daughter, Mary, married to 
the great statesman of Europe, who alone held his own 
against the King of France. Nor were the Whigs dis- 
posed to substitute for him the handsome, weak, licen- 
tious Monmouth. Henceforth the failure of Monmouth's 
expedition was but a question of time. 

On the news reaching London of Monmouth's hav- 
ing landed in Dorsetshire, the parliament was hastily 
adjourned until the autumn. The militia of 
Wiltshire was called out under the Earl of Mon- 
Pembroke, and that of Gloucestershire under ^ndin^ 
the Duke of Beaufort. The Sussex militia, brought to 
under Lord Lumley, marched westward. 
Thither also were despatched all the troops in London, 
except the three Scotch regiments, which, having been 
sent back to James by William, w^ere retained for the 
defence of the capital. The regular troops under the 
command of Lord Feversham numbered 2,500 men, and 
about three days' march in advance of them was sent the 
regiment of the Blues under Lord Churchill. 

Monmouth marched from Taunton to Bridgewater 
with 6,000 men, 1,000 being cavalry; but these latter were 
ill-disciplined, and their horses, not being trained to stand 
fire, were more dangerous to their friends 
than to their foes. From Bridgewater he pro- mouth's 
ceeded to Glastonbury, thence to Wells, and ^^J^^'"^* 
from Wells he made for Bristol, which town counter- 
was supposed to favour his cause. But Bristol ^^'^'^ '"^^' 
was occupied by Beaufort and his militia, and was thought 
too strong to be attacked. Monmouth now retreated 
in the direction of Bath, Churchill hanging on to his rear 



94 27/^ Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

and flanks, and cutting off his stragglers. The garrison 
of Bath was too strong to be taken by a coup-de.-main, 
and Feversham with his army was close to the city. 
Monmouth therefore turned southwards to Frome, re- 
pulsing on his way an attack made by the advanced guard 
of the royal troops. From Frome he returned to Wells, 
and thence again to Bridgewater, his forces being reduced 
in numbers by the long marches and bad weather. The 
main body of Feversham's army had now reached Sedge- 
moor, about three miles from Bridgewater, where they 
encamped. 

Sedgemoor is a morass, intersected by deep and broad 
ditches called rhines, and Feversham's encampment was 
Battle f covered in front by one of these, called the 
Sedgemoor. Old Busscx rhine. Monmouth took the reso- 
* lution of attacking the royal army in its en- 

campment, and of doing so by a surprise by night. As 
has been said before, irregular troops cannot be trusted 
to carry out movements such as night attacks, which re- 
quire the utmost discipline and order. Monmouth's guides 
brought him to the brink of the rhine, fronting Feversham's 
encampment. This was too deep to be crossed. The 
insurgents halted in doubt. Shots were fired across the 
rhine, and these roused Feversham's troops. Making a 
detour, they fell on Monmouth's army. Lord Grey and 
his horse were the first of the insurgents to give way. 
The stout peasants and miners of the west country fought 
with desperation. The waggons filled with ammunition 
had been cut off by the Blues. Grey reported that his 
cavalry had fled, so Monmouth made up his mind that 
all was lost. In the early dawn he, with Lord Grey and 
two others, rode off as fast as they could towards the New 
Forest. Deserted by their leaders the insurgents en- 
deavoured to fly ; but Colonel Kirke, at the head of his 
Tangier troops, followed them in close pursuit. As the 



1685. Second Session of Parliament, 



95 



^ Scale of ^fi'ci iF or U^tle- . 

Stetcli of tlie 
BATTLE OF SEDGEMOOE 




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D <€i^ Q •£ 



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o 



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Morse ,Ai\ ^t'j: \ ', I , . 



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«!/ Gr-enaciiki's 




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It \ ^— ^i_.._^: -22i._>. Wi>ffi»m>fi'<\ Kii>>fm.\ J. ^. j.^. 

\ ^i~r ' TL'om iiie leilrrt 

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ftiJani! 






f 







^ ^^Z'o yXa ixcj, _.___ 



g6 TJie Fall of the Stiiai'is, &c. a.d, 

regulars came up with the stragglers, they put them to 
death, often under circumstances of the greatest barbarity. 
The villages round were searched, and all persons found 
sheltering fugitives were arrested. On the flag carried 
by Kirke's soldiers was a paschal lamb, a badge which 
had been conferred on them when fighting against the 
Mahomedans. The peasantry of the West in irony called 
them ' Kirke's lambs.' The battle of Sedgemoor, if battle 
it can be called, was the last which was fought on English 
soil. 

Monmouth and Grey, when their horses were worn 
out, proceeded on foot in the disguise of countrymen. On 
July 7, they separated, and Grey was soon 
and Grey taken near Ringwood. The next day Mon- 
captured. mouth also was found, concealed in a ditch, 
and half dead from want of food. Both prisoners were 
at once despatched to London ; Monmouth exhibiting 
both fear and depression, Grey appearing more calm and 
collected than on the field of battle. 

On being taken into the presence of the king, Mon- 
mouth made the most degrading appeals that his life 
might be spared ; but James was inexorable. 

Monmouth /-. • i r i n i i 

executed, Scemg therefore that all hope was over, he re- 
Grey fined, covered his equanimity, and at his execution 
behaved with fortitude. He was brought to the scaffold 
July 15. A serious tumult had nearly arisen at the last, 
for the executioner blundered at his work, and the specta- 
tors yelled with fury. With the mob Monmouth had 
always been popular, and for years his memory was 
reverenced by them as that of a Protestant hero and 
martyr. 

Lord Grey, who was wealthy, was allowed to ransom 
his life by the payment of 40,000/., and in the succeeding 
reign, as Earl of Tankerville, he again took an active part 
in politics. 



1685. The Bloody Assize. 97 



Section IV. — The Bloody Assize. 

James, ever revengeful, thought the proceedings of 
Kirke and his lambs too lenient. He therefore despatched 
Jeffreys on a special commission, to try all Jeffreys 
those who were implicated, either as rebels or i" ^^^^^ ^^"'^• 
as having given shelter to rebels. This assize, known as 
the ' Bloody Assize,' was by James called Jeffreys' cam- 
paign. The result of the trials was that about 300 
persons were executed, nearly 1,000 more transported to 
Virginia and the West Indies, and many besides were 
whipped and fined. A bribe of 2,000/. was paid to the 
maids of honour of the queen, in order to obtain the 
pardon of the young girls of Taunton who had presented 
]Monmouth with a standard. 

But no trial was conducted with greater harshness, in 
none did the brutal coarseness of Jeffreys show itself less 
undisguised, no sentence, and consequent exe- Trial and 
cution has excited so great indignation, as that Lady Airce^ 
of Lady Alice Lisle. Hers was the first trial, Lisle, 
and she was the first victim. The aged widow of John 
Lisle, one of the judges who had presided at the trial 
of Charles I., she had long lived a retired life in the 
neighbourhood of Winchester. She was now accused of 
harbouring fugitives from Sedgemoor. The jur>' hesitated 
to find her guilty, but after being bullied and browbeaten 
by Jeffreys, they gave a reluctant verdict. The sentence 
passed by Jeffreys was that she should be burned alive. 
With the greatest difficulty her friends (amongst whom 
were Lord Feversham, the victor at Sedgemoor, and 
Lord Clarendon, the king's brother-in-law), obtained the 
commutation of the sentence. She was to be beheaded, 
and not burned. Five days after the trial, the sentence 
was carried into effect at Winchester. 

i^rji. H 



gS TJie Fall of the Stuarts^ &c. a.d 



CHAPTER IX. 

FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY. 

Section I. — Second Sessio?i of Parliament in 1685. 

The parliament, which had been hastily adjourned on the 

news of Monmouth's landing in Dorsetshire, 

^' was ordered to reassemble on November 9. 

Parliament ^g j|. \^^^ already proved so obedient to his 

reassembles ^ ^ 

Novem- wishes, the king hoped to find it in a tractable 

ber Q. 1 

mood. 
But two events had in the interval occurred, which 
materially affected the views of those Tory members of 
parliament who were not blind adherents of the court, 
and had not been corrupted by French gold. The first 
of these events was the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 
The court endeavoured to prevent the intelligence of the 
edict having been revoked from spreading in England. 
The Gazettes, published twice weekly, did not mention 
Temper of what was passing in France. It was only by 
parliament, private letters, and by the arrival of numerous 
French refugees on the shores of England, that the news 
was promulgated. Evelyn, in his diary, remarks, ' Whence 
this silence I list not to conjecture, but it appeai-'d very 
extraordinary in a Protestant countrie, that we should 
Halifax dis- know nothing of what Protestants suffer'd.' 
missed. TYvQ. sccoud cvcnt was the dismissal of Lord 

Halifax from his office of president of the council. James 
found Halifax, although a ' Trimmer,' of not sufficiently 
facile principles. He had, in his place in the council, 
told the king that he could not sanction by his vote the 
repeal of either the Test Act or the Habeas Corpus Act. 
On the repeal of these obnoxious statutes James had fixed 



1685. Second Session of Parliament. 99 

his heart, and although Hahfax had been the chief agent 
in setting aside the Exclusion Bill, and should for this 
reason have earned the gratitude of James, he was abruptly 
dismissed and his place given to Lord Sunderland. 

Halifax had, with more consistency than was usually 
shown by him, always strenuously opposed the policy of 
Lewis XIV. William of Orange therefore learnt ^.^^^t of 
from his dismissal, that the promises of his Halifax's 

- , . , - T- 1 11 11 disimssal on 

father-m-law, that England should not support wiiiiam of 
the ambitious schemes of the French king, Orange. 
were not to be relied on. The Stadtholder consequently 
took active measures to devise some coalition by which, 
independently, and in spite of James, these schemes 
might be counteracted. 

Inhisspeech on the meeting of parliament, James asked 
for a ' supply,' to enable him to keep in his service the re- 
gular troops now under arms, as the experience of the 
militia in the late troubles proved that they could not be 
depended on. He also added that as some of 
the officers of the army could not comply po^s^o"^"" 
with the requirements of the Test Act, he ^J^'^'^^^^f ^ 
hoped that this Act might be repealed. Now 
the Test Act, which had been passed in 1673, compelled all 
persons holding any office or commission under the Crown 
to take the sacrament according to the order of the 
English Church, and to sign a declaration against the 
Romish doctrine of transubstantiation. It was owing to 
the passing of this Act that James himself had, in days 
gone by, been obliged to resign the office of lord high 
admiral. The Act, moreover, was looked on not only 
by the Whigs, but also by all moderate Tories and 
churchmen, as the great safeguard against the encroach- 
ments of the Romish Church. 

The Commons at once acceded to one of the king's 
requests, and were prepared to grant 700,000/. as a supply 



100 The Fall of tJie Stuarts, &c. a.D. 

for the troops. This proved them to be in a comphant 
mood, for they conceded the principle of a standing army, 
which was so generally repugnant to English statesmen 
and patriots. But the repeal of the Test Act, which 
would enable Popish officers to be in command of the 
newly-formed army, was a measure which the court, with 
all its influence, could not carry. The House was subser- 
vient to James, but not his slavish tool. In a division, 
the court party was beaten by a majority of one (183 to 
182). Halifax's influence was strong enough to prevent 
the Lords placing themselves in opposition to the 
Commons. 

James therefore, enraged and bitterly disappointed, 
resolved to prorogue parliament at once. He did not 
even wait until the 700,000/. was formally voted, but 
prorogued the Houses on November 27. 

The same parliament never again met for the despatch 
of business. It was formally prorogued twice in 1686, 
and finally dissolved in July 1687. 



Section II. — Foreign Policy of James ; 1686. League 
of Augsburg. 

The Elector Palatine, brother of the Duchess of 
Orleans, had died without issue in 1685. His nearest 
male relative had succeeded. The duchess claimed cer- 
tain lands as hers, by right of succession to her brother. 
A.D. 16S6. At her marriage with the Duke of Orleans, 
r,- , . she had renounced all claims on the Palati- 

JJisputes in 

tlie Paiati- natc. Lcwis, following out his policy of sow- 
te1-edby ii^g disscnsiou in the empire, supported the 

Lewis. claims of the duchess. The Elector Palatine 

appealed to the Emperor to protect him. 

William of Orange saw a good opportunity of re- 



1686. Foreign Policy of James. lOi 

straining Lewis. He arranged a league of all the princes 
of the empire, consisting of the Emperor, the League of 
Kings of Spain and Sweden, as holders of Augsburg. 
principahties in the empire, the Electors of Bavaria and 
Saxony, and all the inferior princes. The object of the 
league, called the League of Augsburg, was to maintain 
the provisions of the Treaty of Nimwegen ; and, to enforce 
the observance of the treaty, an army of 60,000 men was 
to be raised, and the necessary funds supplied, by the 
princes who subscribed to the league. The league was 
to continue in force for three years. William was not 
himself a party to the actual league, since he was not a 
prince of the empire, but he was the ruling agent in its 
formation. 

During all the intrigues and counter-intrigues on the 
Continent, Lewis and his able representative Barillon were 
striving to persuade James to enter into a j 
formal alliance with France. On the other favours 
hand, William of Orange, the Emperor, and 
the Pope were endeavouring to keep James from com- 
mitting himself with Lewis. The Pope (Innocent XL), 
already vexed with Lewis's pretensions, was actuated in 
this step by his desire not only to prevent the aggrandise- 
ment of Lewis, but also to arrest the increasing iniluence 
exercised over James by the Jesuits, an order to the prin- 
ciples of which he was much opposed. The proceedings 
of James were evidently of the greatest interest, for his 
open espousal of Lewis's policy might turn the scale in 
the balance of power. It was soon apparent to whose 
side his inclinations leaned. The sovereign who had re- 
voked the Edict of Nantes was one congenial to James. 

Sunderland was, from his long residence in France, 
well known to Lewis. Bribed by an annual pension 
of 6,000/. he consented to advocate Lewis's Simderiand 
measures in the council ; and he agreed, more- is bought 
over, secretly to embrace the Romish faith. ^ 



102 The Fall of tJie Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

The confessor of James, the Jesuit Father Petre, per- 
suaded him to send an embassy to the Pope, in order to 
James try and detach his Hohness from any aUiance 

embass"to ^^^^^ ^^^ Emperor. On account, however, of 
the Pope. the pope's known antipathy to the Jesuits, 
the ambassador selected, Lord Castlemaine, was in- 
structed not to enter into any engagements with the 
Papal See without the consent both of the General of the 
Order of Jesuits and of the French ambassador at 
Rome. 

James thus openly showed his predilection for the 
French alliance, and whilst he looked coldly on his 
ministers Rochester and Clarendon, who remained staunch 
to the English Church, he made Sunderland, the convert, 
his confidential adviser. 



Section \\\.—Home Policy of James ; 1686. 

James next showed that he was bent on overstepping 
the limits placed by the constitution on the power of the 
James's en- Crown. He claimed the dispensing power of 
croach- the Sovereign ; he obtained from a bench 

ments on r • i t n • i • i • -i 

the consti- of judges a verdict allowmg this claim ; he 
tution. established a new ecclesiastical commission; 

and in order to overawe the capital he encamped his 
regular troops on Hounslow Heath. 

There were certain cases in which lawyers had held 
that the Crown had power to grant dispensation from com- 
plying with the terms of statutes. But these were only 
private cases involving no public interests, and the dis- 
james pcnsations were such as are granted by 

disJSnsSj bishops when they excuse a parish incumbent 
power. from residence, and were always dispensations 

from statutes a too rigid interpretation of which might 
cause a private injury. But no lawyer had ever held 



1686. Home Policy of James. 103 

that the Crown had power to dispense with the con- 
ditions required by the common law of the land. James 
however claimed as his prerogative that he might practi- 
cally set aside the Test Act, by granting a dispensation 
from the prohibitions and penalties laid down by it. 

In order to try the power of the Crown an indictment 
was laid against Sir Edward Hales, a Papist, who had 
been appointed by the king colonel of a caseofSir 
regiment and governor of Dover castle, and Edward 
had not, previously to entering on the duties of 
these offices, qualified according to the terms of the Test 
Act. The case was heard before the Court of King's 
Bench, twelve judges being present. The court was pre- 
sided over by the new chief justice, Herbert ; Jeffreys 
having been made lord chancellor. On June 21, 1686, 
judgment was delivered in favour of the ac- James's 

cused. Eleven out of the twelve judges claim ai- 
11 -I 1 • 11 11- lowed by- 

agreed that the kmg had power by his pre- the King's 

rogative to dispense with penal laws, and for ^^^^f^- 
reasons of which he was sole judge ; and that this preroga- 
tive of the king could not be restrained by statutes. Tlie 
effect of this judgment was to declare the sovereign 
absolute, and uncontrolled by laws made by parliament. 

This decision was another proof to Englishmen that 
their constitutional liberties were in danger of being 
again trodden under foot by a Stuart, and caused a 
strong feeling to arise in favour of the next heir, 
Mary and her husband, William of Orange. Lewis, on 
the other hand, congratulated James that he Father 
would now be able to rule as befitted a mon- ^"^^^ ^^^ 

Roman 

arch. Taking advantage of the judgment in Catholic 
his favour, James created several Roman p^vy coun- 
Catholic peers, and his confessor, Father ciiiors. 
Petre, privy councillors. 

A collection had been authorised to be made in the 



I04 The Fall of tJie Stuaris, &c. a.d. 

churches, for the purpose of relieving the refugees whom 
James ^he tyranny of Lewis XIV. had thrown on 

forms an ec- the EngHsh shores. But James had at the 
commission Same time ordered the clergy to desist from 
down^the preaching on controversial subjects, and from 
clergy. discussing in their pulpits the conduct and 

character of the French king. He required the several 
bishops to see this order carried out. The dean of 
Norwich, who was also rector of St. Giles, London, dis- 
obeyed the order. For this disobedience the bishop of 
London (Compton) was requested to suspend him from 
his clerical duties and emoluments. The bishop declined 
to punish the dean more severely than by withdrawing 
for a few months his license to preach. In order to show 
the bishops and the clergy that he was not to be trifled 
with, James forthwith established a new ecclesiastical 
commission. This proceeding was illegal on the king's 
part. The ecclesiastical commission court of Queen 
Elizabeth had been long abolished by act of parliament, 
and the same act had provided that no new court of like 
powers should be constituted. In spite of this act, James 
issued the new commission in the very words which had 
created the original court. 

The court was composed of the archbishop of Canter- 
Thenew \i^v^y (who never took his seat), the bishops 
commission of Durham and Rochester, the Lords Sunder- 
the Bishop land and Rochester, Jeffreys, the lord chan- 
of London. ^^\\q^^ and Herbert, the lord chief justice. 
Three of these might form a quorum, but it was pro- 
vided that the chancellor should be always one of the 
quorum. Immediately on its creation, the court sum- 
moned before it the bishop of London, and, after delibe- 
rations extending over several days, suspended him from 
his office. 

The army encamped on Hounslow Heath consisted of 



io86. Home Policy of James. IO5 

nearly 13,000 men. It was commanded by Lords 
Feversham and Dumbarton, both of whom -^^^^^ 
were Papists. Hither James continually re- visits his 
paired, treating both officers and men with 
studied goodwill. 

Samuel Johnson, a clergyman of the Church of 
England, was in prison for an alleged libel on James, 
when Duke of York, in a book called ' Julian 
the Apostate.' From his prison he wrote an Johnson is 
address to the Protestant soldiers encamped convicted of 

■■^ attemptmg 

at Hounslow, adjuring them not to allow to excite the 
themselves to be tools in the hands of a tyrant 
bent on persecuting and exterminating the Protestant 
faith. Johnson was again placed on his trial for this, and 
sentenced to lose his gown, to be placed in the pillory, and 
to be whipped through London. 

To add to the distrust excited by Roman Catholics 
sitting at the privy council, various orders of Roman 
Catholics were permitted to open schools in Spread of 
London and to found monasteries. Benedic- CatlioHc- 
tines were located in Saint James's, the Jesuits ism. 
in the Savoy, the Franciscans in Lincoln's Inn Fields, 
the Carmelites in the City. Schools were opened by 
the Jesuits, and owing to the high reputation of that 
order for education, attracted many scholars. Pamphlets 
were also printed, and distributed widely, in defence of 
Romanism. 

James endeavoured to propitiate the nonconformists 
also by allowing them equal privileges with the Romanists. 
Formal declarations of liberty of conscience , 

were pubhshed both in England and in Scot- tions of 
land. No restraint was to be placed on any indulgence, 
sect in the exercise of its religious services. But this 
affectation of liberality on the part of James deceived few. 
The Anabaptists, and some of the more extreme sects, 



io6 The Fall of tJie Stuarts, dfc. a.d. 

insignificant, in point of numbers and influence, alone 
thanked the king, and took advantage of the indulgence. 
The great battle between Protestantism and Roman- 
ism, still undecided on the Continent, had, at the be- 
The contest si^^^i^^g 3-^d middle of the seventeenth century, 
between merged in England into the contest of Episco- 

Protestant- at- i i i ^ 

ism and pacy or Anglicanism, supported by the Crown, 

Romanism, against nonconformity and liberty of con- 
science. But at the close of the century it had in England 
again reverted to the old form of struggle. Now the 
fight was between Protestantism, championed by the 
Church of England, and Papacy, protected by the king. 

The Crown had secured for itself the support of the 
bench, and of all the lawyers who aspired to a seat on 
_ , . the bench. The lawyers of the Temple made 

Subservi- . , , . ^ . . 

encyofthe themsclves mdccd notorious for their syco- 
lawyers. phancy by sending an address to the king 

thanking him for the declaration of indulgence, and con- 
cluding by stating their determination to defend, if need 
were with their lives and fortunes, the divine maxim, 
'■ a Deo rex, a rege lex ' (' the king is made by God, and the 
law by the king '). 

Section IV. — Attack of James on the Unive^'sities. 

James, feeling sure of the support of his law officers, 
aimed a blow at the universities, and through them at 
the Established Church, which raised a ferment through- 
out his kingdom never allayed during the remainder of 
his reign. The universities had never, in the darkest 
hour of the Stuarts, flinched from their loyalty 

Indignation , , , , ^ , . 

felt against to the throne ; and as a reward lor their con- 
s^m^^ath"^ stancy they were now attacked. No wonder 
for the then that the country squires and country 

rectors, the Tory supporters of the doctrine of 
the divine right of kings, felt that no sacrifices on their 



1687. Attack on the Universities. 107 

part would insure their safety from the spoiler, the en- 
croaching Romish Church, since the universities, whose 
teaching and whose loyalty they had followed, were not 
spared. At Cambridge a small band of philosophical stu- 
dents resided, who had long inculcated the doctrine of reli- 
gious liberty, and had endeavoured to show that this 
liberty existed in, and was best fostered by, an Established 
Church. They were held in respect by the Whigs and 
by moderate nonconformists, but they now learnt that 
their own doctrine might be perverted into one which 
was injurious to the liberties of their Alma Mater. 

The rights of the Established Church and of the 
universities were encroached on by James in the following 
instances. The bishopric of Oxford was given Dr. Parker 
to Dr. Parker, who, although a married man ^^^^^ ^f 
and nominally a Protestant, had nevertheless Oxford. 
declared that he held absolutely all the doctrines of the 
Romish Church. 

In December, 1686, the deanery of Christchurch, 
Oxford, became vacant. Massey, a Romanist, was in- 
stalled as dean by the king's orders. James in- Dr. Massey 
formed the papal nuncio that what he had done ^/christ^^ 
at Oxford he would also do at Cambridge. church. 

In February 1687 a degree was demanded from the 
University of Cambridge for a certain Francis, a Bene- 
dictine monk. The vice-chancellor, Dr. Pechell, master 
of Magdalen College, declined to accede to this demand 
unless Francis consented to take the oaths required by the 
university. Francis refused, and Dr. Pechell 
and the other university authorities were sum- 

Dr Pechell 

moned before the ecclesiastical commission, deprived of 

Pechell was deprived of his office as vice- ^^^^ "^•*^f; 

^ chancellor- 

chancellor and suspended from the emolu- ship of 

ments of his mastership. ^^ " ^^ 

The presidentship of Magdalen, Oxford, fell vacant 



I08 The Fall of iJie Stuarts^ dfc. a.d. 

The court recommended to the fellows, for the vacant 
Fellows of post, one Anthony Farmer. By the statutes 
Oxford'^"' °^ ^^^ college the president must have been 
ejected. a fellow either of Magdalen or of New College. 

Farmer had been a fellow of neither, and he besides 
possessed every disqualification for such an office. He 
had escaped expulsion from Cambridge by hurriedly 
quitting that university; he had then joined the dis- 
senters, afterwards had entered at Magdalen, Oxford, 
and had earned notoriety by his profligacy and evil life. 
He had now turned Papist as an easy means of rising 
in the world. The fellows met, and in spite of the royal 
recommendation elected Dr. Hough, one of their body, 
a man well fitted for the post. The fellows were cited 
before the ecclesiastical commission. The proofs of 
Farmer's unfitness were so convincing that the com- 
mission did not try to force him on the college, but 
Hough's election was declared invalid. James soon after 
sent a letter ordering the fellows to elect as their presi- 
dent Parker, the bishop of Oxford. The fellows replied 
that the presidentship was not vacant. They remained 
firm, although James sent several influential men (Penn, 
the Quaker, amongst the number), to remonstrate with 
them. At last a troop of soldiers was sent to expel the 
recalcitrants. Bishop Parker was formally installed, two 
only of the fellows being present. James said that no 
further steps should be taken against the disobedient 
fellows if they would ask for pardon and acknowledge 
their error. This they refused to do, and they were 
consequently deprived of their fellowships. In a few 
months all the revenues of Magdalen College were en- 
joyed by Papists. 



1687. The Autumn of 1687. 109 

Section V. — The Autuvin 0/16S7. 

The camp was again formed on Hounslow Heath, 
and was frequently visited by the king and queen, both in 
state and privately. 

On July 3 the king received in state the papal nuncio. 
He could hardly venture on this outrage on Protestantism 
in London, so Windsor saw a train of thirty- ^ 

/ Reception 

SIX carnages, amongst which were those 01 the of the papal 
Bishops of Durham and Winchester, conduct- ^^^'^^°- 
ing with unwonted pomp the ambassador of the pope. 

James had discussed with his council the expediency 
of this step, and also of dissolving the parliament, which 
had not met for business for twenty months. Resignation 
The more moderate members of the council, prj^^y cSl!n. 
although they were firm Tories and loyal to the ciilors. 
reigning house, were opposed to both these measures of 
the king, and when they found him resolved on them, 
thought it advisable to resign their seats at the council- 
table. 

Lord Sunderland and Father Petre were now virtually 
the sole ministers, and James, with their concurrence, 
dissolved the parliament, hoping that a more Parliament 
subservient one would be elected. With this dissolved, 
object the work of remodelling the corporations was 
pressed on, in order that the members of the corporations 
should be confined as much as possible to such as were 
of the Romish faith, or were nonconformists. 

In the autumn of 1687 James made a progress through 
the West of England, in the hope of gaining over that 
part of the country in which Monmouth had found his 
chief support. Among his suite on this occasion was 
William Penn, the Quaker, whose presence James 
thought would conciliate the dissenters. The king ex- 
pressed himself as everywhere satisfied with the marks of 



no The Fall of the Stitarts, &c. a.d. 

affection and loyalty shown to him ; but a disinterested 
and keen-sighted spectator, Barillon, the French ambas- 
sador, reported to his master, Lewis, that there was no 
real enthusiasm for James, and that he saw on the other 
hand evident signs of disaffection. 



CHAPTER X. 



IRELAND UNDER JAMES II. 

Section I. — Preliminary Sketch of Ireland. 

The people of Ireland were of two distinct races; the 
native Irish, who were Celts and Roman Catholics, and 
Population the colonists, who were, in Leinster and the 
howdi^"'^ ' setded part of Munster, of English descent, 
vided. and in Ulster, the northern province, of Scotch 

descent. A great number of the English settlers were 
old soldiers of Cromwell and Nonconformists ; the 
remaining English were descendants of the colonists of 
Elizabeth's reign, and were Episcopalians. The settlers 
of Ulster, the Scotch colonists, were for the most part 
Presbyterians. 

Although the Irish parliament, sitting in Dublin, was 
composed entirely of Protestants, the penal laws against 
„ ,. . Roman Catholics, which were in force in Eng- 

Religious ' ° 

liberty in land, had not as yet been introduced into 
Ireland, and Roman Catholics enjoyed free 
exercise of their religion. 

The native Irish, occupying the whole of the province 
of Connaught, and some small parts of Munster, led lives 
-, . ... , which were almost barbarous. Sept, or clan- 

Uncivilised . . 

state of law, Still held sway amongst them. Their 

chiefs were but little more civilised than the 

common people, their one great virtue being that of hos- 



1660. Preliminary Sketch of Ireland. 1 1 1 

pitality, and this was exercised to such an extent as to 
keep them impoverished. 

Continually had the Irish been in rebellion, and each 
rebellion, as it had been put down, had been followed by 
the confiscation of the lands of the rebels. 
During Cromwell's firm and severe adminis- treatment of 
tration, the Irish had been forcibly driven into '^^^ ^^'^^^" 
Connaughtj or transported to the plantations in America ; 
while thousands of the better class, permitted to emigrate, 
had taken service in the armies of Spain and other foreign 
nations. 

The population of Ireland may be roughly estimated 
as at this time about one million native Irish, and about 
two hundred thousand English and Scotch ^^ , 

° Number of 

colonists. But all the mfluence m the country the popula- 
was exercised by the latter, for the Irish, ^^^^' 
divided amongst themselves, were utterly deficient in that 
power of organisation which would have rendered them, 
by reason of their superior numbers, formidable.^ 

After the Restoration (1660) the Episcopalian Church 
became again the Established Church in Ireland. This 
anomaly caused a numerous hierarchy and a ^ . 

r • r • 1 • Jtpiscopacy 

large number of mferior clergy to be appomted, established 
to take spiritual care of a scattered population, *" '^'^ ^" ' 
not equalling in souls one of the smaller English dioceses. 
On the re-establishment of the monarchy in England, 
the chief settlers in Ireland, many of whom were old Crom- 
wellian soldiers, offered the crown of Ireland 
to Charles II., on the condition that the lands thedisaffec- 
they were now in possession of should be "^lo^ofinsh. 
legally secured to them. An Act of Settlement was ac- 
cordingly passed, by which the actual holders of the land, 
on payment of a small fine to Charles, became its legal 
possessors. Of the lands not claimed, or thus legally 
settled, a great part was granted to James Duke of York, 



112 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

and to courtiers of the king. But many of the native 
Irish, both nobles and gentry, had been warm supporters 
of the Stuarts against the Commonwealth, and had suf- 
fered for their loyalty, and these were loud in their com- 
plaints of Charles's want of faith and justice. A court of 
claims accordingly sat, and after many hundred claims 
had been heard by it, and pronounced valid, the Irish 
parliament passed a compromise, called an Act of Ex- 
planation, by which one-third of the grants under the Act 
of Settlement were yielded to the Irish royalists, in order 
to satisfy their demands. But this concession was not 
nearly sufficient, and consequently a feeling of disaffection 
became widespread throughout the native Irish. 

Section II. — h'elaiid at tlie Acccssio7i of Jaiiics 11.^ 1685. 

At the accessioij of James II., in 1685, he found the 
native Irish, all of whom were Roman Catholics, opposed 
to the English rule, as to that of a conquering minority, 
whilst the few nobles who, not of choice but from interest, 
were inclined to be friendly to England, were prevented 
by their religion from sitting in the Irish parliament. Ot 
the settlers, the Scotch Presbyterians shared the feelings 
of their brethren in their native country, and hated Epis- 
A.D. 1685. copalians with the true religious fury. In 
frdandin ^^ Irish Parliament the Presbyterians and 
16S5. Episcopalians were nearly balanced, whilst 

the Protestant Nonconformists, in numbers almost equal- 
ling the other two parties, had but few seats in the Par- 
liament. The Episcopalians alone were hearty supporters 
of the house of Stuart; the Presbyterians and Noncon- 
formists were Whigs. 

James was in a most favoui'able position for tranquil- 
lising Ireland, for, as a Roman Catholic, he was much 
Policy of more acceptable to the native Irish than his 
James. prcdcccssors had been. Had he followed his 

true interests, he would have endeavoured, firstly, to unite 



1687. Clarendon and Tyjcomiel. 113 

together, as firmly as possible, the English settlers in Ire- 
land, and secondly, by wise acts of mediation, to bridge 
over the differences between the English and Irish. Thus 
he might have welded them into one people. James, 
however, followed a directly opposite policy, and the 
results of this misgovernment of Ireland are visible at the 
present day. 

The Duke of Ormond was at the time of the death 
of Charles II. both lord lieutenant and commander 
of the forces. He was a staunch Protestant, Recall of 
and as being an inhabitant of Ireland, Ormond. 
descended from an English colonist, and of great wealth 
and high rank, he was the natural head of the English in 
Ireland. But soon after his accession James recalled 
him, and the office of lord lieutenant was bestowed on 
his own brother-in-law, Lord Clarendon, whilst the post of 
general of the troops was given to Richard Talbot, Earl 
of Tyrconnel. 



Section III. — Clarendon a?id TyrcoJtnel. 

Talbot was descended from one of the old Norman 
families settled in Leinster, but his immediate ancestors 
had fallen into poverty and were in no wise to Richard 
be distinguished from the native Irish gentry. Talbot. 
He had come to London, when young, as an adventurer. 
He soon gained an evil notoriety, and was employed by 
both Charles II. and James in many discreditable deeds, 
in which he had shown that he was deterred by no scru- 
ples from shedding blood or from breaking his oath. He 
was a coarse, vulgar, truculent ruffian, greedy and unprin- 
cipled ; but in the eyes of James he had great virtues, for 
he was devoted to the Romish Church and to his sove- 
reign. ' Lying Dick Talbot,' as he was called, was raised 
by James to the peerage as Earl of Tyrconnel. 

M.H. I 



114 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

Lord Clarendon was, from the time of his appoint- 
ment, hampered by his associate. He was anxious to 
A D 1686. govern the country justly, and to sow the 

Clarendon's seeds of union. He wrote to James long de- 
measures , . . , . , ... 
opposed by spatchos, cntcrmg mmutely into the condition 

Tyrconnei. ^f Ireland, and pointing out the measures by 
which he thought the mutual animosities of the races 
might be allayed. But Tyrconnei violently opposed all 
his plans, and at last set off for London to have an inter- 
view with James. 

The result of that interview was the recall of Claren- 
don. With his fall from power was associated that of 
A.D. 1687. his brother, Lord Rochester, who was at the 
di^nfssal Same time dismissed from his office of lord 
from office, treasurer and from his seat on the ecclesias- 
tical commission. The disgrace of the king's two 
brothers-in-law, supposed to have been caused by the 
attachment of both to the Protestant faith, was deeply 
felt both in England and Ireland. In England it was 
considered to be one further blow aimed at Protestantism. 
But the English in Ireland knew that it meant nothing less 
than that the Papists and Irish were in the ascendancy, 
and that their lives and property were in jeopardy. To 
add to these feelings of insecurity, Tyrconnei returned, 
not indeed as lord lieutenant, but with the power which 
Ormond had formerly held, although under a new title, 
that of lord deputy. 

Section IV. — Ty7'C07inel as Loi'd Deputy of Ireland. 
The rule of Tyrconnei entirely subverted the old order 
Roman of things. Protestants were disarmed, and 

Svo^ured^y Protestant soldiers were disbanded. The 
Tyrconnei. militia was coiiiposed wholly of Roman Catho- 
lics. The dispensing power in the royal prerogative set 
aside the statutes of the kingdom, and the bench and 



1687. Tyrconnel^ Lord Deputy of h'eland. 115 

privy council were occupied by Roman Catholics. Vacant 
bishoprics of the Established Church remained unfilled, 
and their revenues were devoted to Romish priests. Tithes 
were with impunity withheld from the clergy of the 
Establishment. 

Tyrconnel proposed to summon a parliament, but 
James withheld his permission. Barillon had told the 
king that Tyrconnel had traitorous designs in summoning 
a parliament ; that he intended to declare Ireland an 
independent kingdom, and had even asked the „ , 
assistance of Lewis XIV. for his plans. Tyr- intrigues in 
connel, on being called on for an explanation, 
said that all his schemes were laid in order to prepare a 
safe asylum for James and the royal family in case of a 
successful Protestant revolution. The actual truth was, 
that Tyrconnel also was in the pay of Lewis XIV.; that 
Barillon's disclosures to James revealed only half the 
matter ; that these disclosures were made because it was 
thought that James might discover the intrigue through 
some other source; and that, in case James died without 
male issue (at this time a most probable event), Tyrconnel 
was to declare Ireland a dependency of France, and, if 
the parliament were summoned, was to have induced 
that body to support his declaration of separation from 
England. 

The hatred of the Irish Roman Catholics towards the 
Protestant settlers was excited to the utmost under Tyr- 
connel's rule. The former now hoped to mete hatred of 
out to the latter a full measure of retaliation. Roman 
The breach was widened owing to the fear towards 
and distrust openly showed by the Protes- I'rotestants. 
tants, and has never since been effectually repaired. 



I 2 



1 16 TJic Fall of tJie Stuarts, &c. a.d. 



CHAPTER XI. 

WILLIAM, LEWIS, AND JAMES DURING THE WINTER OF 1687 AND 
SPRING AND SUMMER OF 1688. 

Section I. — William gathers Lifonnation and opens a 
Correspoiideiice with the Disaffected in England. 

The general insecurity felt in England in 1687 had 
caused many influential noblemen to urge on William of 
Orange an active interference. William, however, with 
that calm judgment and patient forbearance 
William which were characteristic of him, decided that 

"^'^ar^not^^ the Opportune time had not as yet come. 
sufficiently For the defence of Germany he had nego- 
"^^' tiated the League of Augsburg, and had thus 

frustrated the schemes of Lewis XIV, in that quarter. 
But James had not yet openly committed himself to an 
offensive alliance with France, and Lewis's interference 
in English politics had been confined to personal advice 
to James, to bribery of the nobility and leading pohticians, 
and to various underhand intrigues. 

The Stadtholder, however, sent over to London a 
trustworthy agent, Dykvelt, to report to him on the state 
of affairs. He engaged also a Whig refugee, Dr. Burnet, 
Wiiiiam aftcrwards bishop of Salisbury, to go to the 

I) kvelt Hague and act as his secretary in corre- 

andBninet. spondiug with his English friends. Burnet 
(whose ^ History of his own Time ' is one of the chief 
sources of information for students of the Revolution 
of 1688) was a Scotchman, and had been a professor at 
Glasgow, whence he had gone to London, and had been 
made a chaplain to Charles II. ; but on account of his 
intimacy with Russell and the leaders of the Whig party, 
he had thought it prudent, soon after the Rye House Plot, 
to retire to Holland. 



1688. William gathers Infoinnation. I IJ 

Dykvelt, on arriving in London, held interviews with 
many influential statesmen, both there and in the country, 
without in any way committing his master. He sought 
the opinion of both Tories and Whigs, avoiding only 
those who were tainted with Romanism. His reports 
confirmed William in his policy of waiting. When he 
returned to Holland Dykvelt took with him Dyi^^^ej^ 
letters from Lords Danby and Halifax, assur- returns to 
ing William of their co-operation whenever 
and however he might think fit to move more actively. 
Lord Churchill, the petted protdge of Tames, wrote also 
to William, offering him his services, and professing 
himself ready to die the death of a martyr for the Protes- 
tant religion. 

But when the Hydes (Lords Clarendon and Roches- 
ter) were dismissed from their offices, such feelings of 
distrust were raised that men of both political parties 
in England importuned William to take some decided 
step. William, determined accurately to gauge the state 
of the country, dispatched another agent, not as before 
a diplomatist like Dykvelt, but a soldier, Zulestein, able 
to observe with a soldier's eye the signs of Zuiestein in 
loyalty or disaffection to James in the army England. 
on Hounslow Heath, and to judge with a soldier's per- 
ception what reliance, in a military point of view, could 
be placed on William's adherents, and more particularly 
on his friends in the English navy. Zulestein was con- 
nected by ties of family with William, and was therefore 
a person of sufficient distinction to be invited to the 
houses of the English nobility ; and as he did not visit 
England officially, his presence did not bring down on 
his hosts the suspicions of James. On his return to 
Holland, Zulestein made a much more favourable report 
than Dykvelt had, of the strength of William's party. He 
also brought back with him fresh letters of adherence. 



1 1 8 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d 

Henceforth, the friends of WilUam in England kept 
up a constant correspondence with the Hague. 

Section U.— October, 1687. 

Another event occurred to strengthen the views of 
those who advised Wilham of Orange to take immediate 
action. Mary, WilHam's wife, was at present heiress- 
Oueen's ex- presumptive to the throne of England, and one 
pectedcon- of William's reasons for inactivity was that 
sooner or later he would be able to make use 
of the power of England in restraining the inordinate 
pretensions of the King of France. But now (October 1687), 
to the astonishment of everyone, it was announced that 
the birth of a child was expected by the queen. She had 
already borne James four children, all of whom had 
died in their infancy, and six years had elapsed since the 
birth of the last. She was also no longer young. 

The announcement was received at first with incre- 
Howthe dulity, but as by degrees its importance 
news of It beran to be realised, the joy of the Roman 

was re- » y j j 

ceived. Catholics kncw no bounds. They declared that 

the expected event was owing to the direct intervention of 
the Deity ; and that it was a miracle vouchsafed to the 
prayers of the faithful. They likened the queen to Sarah 
and to Hannah, mothers in Israel. The Protestants, 
both Whig and Tory, believed that it was an impu- 
dent attempt of the Papists to foist a supposititious child 
on the country ; and that it was a Jesuitical plot and 
intrigue against William, the champion of the Protestant 
faith in Europe. 

So, uneasily, passed away the winter of 1687-88. 



1688. Second Declaration of Indulgence. 119 



Section III. — The Second Declaration of Indulgence ^ 
and Trial of the Seven Bishops. 

In April 1688, James put forth a second declaration 
of indulgence. As in the former one published in 1687, 
this also suspended all penal laws against ^ ^ ^^33 
nonconformists, and abolished religious tests Second 

,.- . f. -~ . . . , Declaration 

as qualifications for orhce ; but it contained ofin- 
this important addition, that the king would duigence. 
employ no one, in either a civil or military appointment, 
who refused to concur in this new declaration. Con- 
currence, therefore, in the declaration was made the new 
test. 

James announced also his intention of summoning a 
parliament in November, and appealed to his james talks 
subjects to choose representatives who would ^osether^a 
aid him in carrying the measures he had so Parliament. 
much at heart. 

On May 4 an order of council was passed command- 
ing the clergy of all denominations to read the Declaration 
declaration from their pulpits on two succes- be*^readi'n 
sive Sundays. The first of these Sundays churches, 
was to be for London parishes, May 20 ; for the country 
ones, June 3. Meetings of the clergy took place on the 
publication of this order. The High Church party, who 
had thus far always preached the doctrine of passive 
obedience and of the divine right of kings, ^j^^ ciero^v 
agreed that this order was an insult to the are indig- 
Church which even their principles would not 
compel them to put up with. The more liberal-minded 
clergy, and those who were inclined to the politics of the 
Whigs, declared that, under the guise of liberty of con- 
science, a blow was aimed at the Established Church, 
the maintenance of which they held to be the safeguard 
ascainst Rome and intolerance. 



1 20 TJie Fall of tJic Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

At a general meeting held at Lambeth, a petition to 
the king was drawn up, and signed by the archbishop of 
Protestor Canterbury and six bishops. It prayed the 
the Seven king not to insist on their reading the declara- 

ops. tion, which contained 'such a dispensing 

power as Parliament had declared illegal.' The names 
of the 'seven bishops/ as they are commonly called, 
should not be forgotten. They are — Sancroft, archbishop 
of Canterbury ; Ken, bishop of Bath and Wells ; Lake, 
bishop of Chichester ; Lloyd, bishop of St. Asaph ; Sir 
J. Trelawny, bishop of Bristol ; Turner, bishop of Ely ; 
White, bishop of Peterborough. 

As the archbishop, owing to his refusal to sit on the 
ecclesiastical commission, had been forbidden the court, 
the six bishops carried to James their petition. The 
king was furious. He told the bishops they were rebels, 
but that there were still left seven thousand of the Church 
who had not bowed the knee to Baal ; that he would 
keep the petition, and would not forget who had signed 
Interview it ; that no good churchman ever yet denied 
bishcT s ^^^ dispensing power of the Crown. Ken 

with James, asked James to grant to them the same liberty 
of conscience which he granted to others. On James 
refusing to do this, the bishop rejoined, ' We have two 
duties — one duty to God and one duty to your Majesty.' 
The king became yet more angry, and dismissed them. 
Ken, as he retired, ejaculated, ' God's will be done.' 

In very few churches or chapels in the kingdom was 
the declaration read. 

The primate and his six suffragans were summoned 
The bishops before the king in council. They acknow- 
toThe^"*^*^ ledged the petition to be theirs. They were 
Tower. accordingly ordered to find bail to answer a* 

criminal information for libel in the King's Bench. This 
they dechned to do, as it would be yielding up their legal 



1688. Trial of the Seven Bishops. 1 2 1 

privileges as peers of the realm. They were accordingly 
committed to the Tower. Their passage to the Tower, 
by water, resem.bled a triumphal procession. Between 
two lines of boats the bishops passed, amidst shouts of 
* God bless your lordships ! ' 

On June lo an infant prince was born. No time 
could have been more inauspicious. Through- Birth of a 
out England James was unpopular. The birth P"nce. 
of the prince produced a fresh comphcation in the tangled 
web of European politics. 

On June 1 5 the archbishop and bishops were brought 
into court to plead. Their counsel took legal The bishops 
objections to their commitment ; but these ^^^'^^.^i"'^'^ 
were overruled, and the trial was fixed for 
June 29. 

During the intervening fortnight tumults took place. 
Papists were insulted. Huge bonfires were public ex- 
lighted. In the West of England, where the citemem. 
memory of Monmouth was still revered, the peasantry 
prepared again to take up arms. The Cornish miners, 
v/ho loved Trelawny as the representative of an old 
cherished Cornish family, sang 

' And shall Trelawny die, and shall Trelawny die ? 
Then twenty thousand Cornish boys will know the reason why.' 

On the appointed day the trial commenced. The 
defendants were charged with publishing a false, mali- 
cious, and seditious libel. The counsel for the ^, . , 

' 1- • The trial. 

defence urged that there was no publication, 
for the petition was placed in the king's hand ; that the 
petition was not false, for all that it contained was in the 
journals of Parliament ; that it was not malicious, for the 
defendants had not sought to make strife, but had been 
placed in the situation in which they found themselves 
by the action of the Government ; that it was not sedi- 



122 The Fall of the StuartSy &c: a.D- 

tious, for it was seen by the king alone ; that it was not a 
Hbel, but a decent petition, such as subjects might law- 
fully present to their king. Two great constitutional 
questions were thus before the court — the denial of the 
dispensing power of the king, the claim of the right of 
every subject to petition. 

The counsel for the prosecution were weak in their 
speeches. The high-handed measures of Lord Chancellor 
The Jeffreys had so disgusted all the more digni- 

verdict. £g(j^ of ^-j^g legal profession that the crown 

found difficulty in filling the higher offices of the law. 
There were four judges on the bench. Two summed up 
in favour of the crown ; the other two, HoUoway and 
Powell, in favour of the bishops. The jury retiring to 
consider their verdict, sat all night in consultation, and at 
ten in the morning brought in a verdict of ' not guilty.' 

The joy of the populace knew no bounds. West- 
minster Hall resounded with shouts, which were taken up 
How the throughout London and its suburbs. James 
verdict was had gonc to Hounslow to visit the camp. An 

received. . i . , , 

express messenger arrived announcmg the 
verdict. The soldiers raised cries of exultation at the 
acquittal of the bishops. This prosecution united all 
classes in opposition to the Government. The cause of 
the Church and the cause of freedom was for once the 
same. The great majority of the peers, both lay and 
spiritual, the universities, the clergy, the dissenters, the 
army, the navy, the landed gentry, the merchants, all, in 
short, who called themselves Protestants, were firmly knit 
together to oppose the king and his Romish advisers. 
The Tories no longer held to their doctrine of passive 
obedience ; they now maintained that extreme oppression 
might justify resistance, and that the oppression which 
the nation now suffered was extreme. 



1688. The hivitation to William. 123 

Section IV. — The Invitation to William. 

In May, Edward Russell had gone over to the Hague 
to represent the actual state of affairs in England, and 
the necessity of active interference on the part visit of 
of William. Russell (a cousin of William Lord J^usse[fto 
Russell) was an officer in the navy, and had the Hague. 
once been a member of James's household, when James 
was Duke of York, but had resigned on the fall of the 
Whigs. William spoke most cautiously to Russell. He 
told him he wanted written invitations and promises of 
support from men of position of all parties. Russell 
answered that it was necessary to the success of the design 
that it should not be known to a great many. To this 
William assented, and said he would be satisfied if the 
signatures were few in number, provided they were those 
of statesmen representing great interests. Thus commis- 
sioned, Russell returned to London. To Dykvelt William 
remarked, 'Aut nunc aut nunquam' — 'Now or never.' 

On the 30th of June, the day of the acquittal of the 
bishops, Admiral Herbert, disguised as a common sailor, 
set off for the Dutch coast. He was the bearer Admiral 
of a paper signed in cypher. Those who had Herbert 
signed were but seven. They were the Earl William an 
of Devonshire, who represented the old Whig mvitation. 
party ; the Earl of Shrewsbury, who, bred a Roman 
Catholic, had been converted to Protestantism by Arch- 
bishop Tillotson ; the Earl of Danby, a Tory, who had 
been driven from power by the Whigs, but whose chief 
political maxim was hostility to France and Lewis XIV. ; 
Compton, the suspended bishop of London, who repre- 
sented the clergy ; Henry Sidney, brother of Algernon 
Sidney, who represented those holding the more extreme 
political views for which his brother had suffered on the 
scaffold ; Lord Lumley, who had hitherto been attached 



1 24 The Fall of the Stuarts, &e. a.d. 

to the cause of James, and had done good service in 
suppressing Monmouth's insurrection ; and Russell, who 
represented the chief officers of the navy. Some have 
called these seven ' the seven patriots.' 

The letter, which invited William to land in England 
with a body of troops, assured him ' that the greatest part 
^, of the nobility and gentry are as much dis- 

The terms • ^ , , , 

of the satisfied as themselves ; that nmeteen out of 

invitation. every twenty are desirous of a change ; that 
very many of the common soldiers do daily show such an 
aversion to the Popish religion that there is the greatest 
probability they would desert ; and amongst the seamen 
there is not one in ten who would do James any service.' 

William made up his mind at once to sail for Eng- 
land. 

Before entering on an account of William's success, it 
will be well to point out briefly the difficulties of his 
position. 

He was at the head of a small republic, which at 
great sacrifices and with great difficulty had succeeded 
j)-cr. ■ ^'"^ preserving its independence against the 
of William's assaults of Lcwis XIV. He had now to pre- 
situation. Y>^YQ an expedition, neither too small, lest it 
might be crushed by James ; nor too large, lest it should 
drain the resources of his country, and leave her unpro- 
tected. He had to guard against the jealousy of his 
Dutch subjects. He had to trust the representations of 
the 'seven patriots,' who might after all be judging of 
their countrymen by their own wishes. He could not 
but see that the English nation had displayed for some 
years past but little love of freedom or spirit of resist- 
ance to tyranny. He knew that IMonmouth and Argyle 
had both failed. He knew also, that however loudly 
the nation exclaimed against Popery, the pulpits of its 
Established Church had for years been filled by clergy 



1688. Williams Proclamation. 125 

who preached the doctrine of passive obedience, its seats 
of justice had been occupied by lawyers who pronounced 
that doctrine to be the law of the land, and its later 
parliaments had admitted the same fatal principle. 

These difficulties must be borne in mind in order to 
form a fair estimate of the great man who in the face of 
them formed his determination, and in spite of them 
succeeded in his design. 



Section V. — James's Proceedings after the Acquittal of 
the Bishops. 

As soon as the news of the acquittal of the bishops 
was brought to Hounslow, James took horse and hurried 
to London. He had thus the mortification of ^ 

TciniGs 

seeing the rejoicings, the bonfires, and fire- anger is 
works which the result of the trial produced. '^°"s^'i- 
The spirit of revenge, which was natural to him, was 
aroused. He issued an order to the archdeacons to re- 
port to the High Commissioners the names of all the 
clergy who had omitted to read the declaration. He dis- 
missed from the bench the two judges Hollo way and Powell, 
who had summed up in favour of the bishops. He re- 
warded those who supported his own views, and, still 
further to vex English churchmen, and to gain over the 
dissenters. Dr. Titus, a noted Presbyterian, was made a 
member of the Privy Council. 

James learnt, from the acclamations of the troops at 
Hounslow, that they were not to be depended on. He 
therefore broke up the encampment in July, 

1 11 1 , , . James dis- 

and trusted by a personal appeal to each regi- appointed 
ment singly, to win them back to their fidelity, ^oops^^ 
and to engage their aid in carrying into effect tarings over 
his determination concerning the test. He 
made his first attempt at extracting a personal engage- 



126 The Fall of the Stuarts, &€. a.d. 

ment from the men of each corps with Lord Lichfield's 
regiment, now the 12th Foot. In this he failed, the 
soldiers with hardly an exception declining to sign any 
engagement. James left the ground on which the regi- 
ment was paraded, exclaiming, ' I shall not do you the 
honour to consult you another time.' Thus baulked, he 
determined to bring over Irish battalions, raised and 
trained by Tyrconnel, and also to enlist in English regi- 
ments Irish recruits brought over from their country for 
that purpose. These steps, however, still further increased 
the disaffection of the army. English and Irish hated 
each other with a deadly hatred. In some cases, the 
attempt to introduce Irish recruits into a regiment ex- 
cited a mutiny. 

The spirit of disloyalty raised by the trial of the 
Disaffection bisliops was aggravated by these various acts 
increases. Qf james in the months of July, August, and 
September. 

Section VI. — Lewis Declares War against the Em- 
peror. 

We have seen how the claims of the Duchess of Or- 
leans to some of the possessions of the Elector Palatine 
had been supported by Lewis, had then been referred 
to the Emperor, and by him had been disallowed ; and 
we have also seen how Lewis's attempted interference by 
arms was frustrated by the League of Augsburg. Another 
Dispute quarrel now arose between the French and 

electorate of Imperial courts. The archiepiscopal elec- 
Koln. torate of Koln (Cologne) had become vacant. 

Lewis was desirous that a protege of his, von Fiirstenberg 
(brother of the Bishop of Strasburg, who had been in- 
strumental in gaining possession of that city for the 
French), should be elected to fill the vacancy. The Em- 
peror, on the other hand, wished to place a Bavarian 
prince in the electorate. The Pope, opposed to Lewis, 



1688. Lewis declares War. 127 

supported the Emperor's candidate. The chapter of 
Koln had to decide between the rivals. French influence 
prevailed and von Fiirstenberg was elected by the majority 
of the Chapter (15 votes to 9). This election the Pope 
declared invalid, insisting further that the Bavarian was 
the rightful elector. 

Against this decision Lewis appealed to arms. In 
spite of the Pope, he proclaimed war against the Em- 
peror. All the German princes who had Lewis takes 
joined the League of Augsburg were united "parms, 
against France. Lewis had been informed by his am- 
bassador at the Hague that William was fitting out an 
expedition, but wath such skill had the destination of it 
been concealed that it was not until the month of Sep- 
tember that the ambassador learnt it was in- and warns 
tended for England. Lewis lost no time in wmbm^s 
warning James of the designs of William, and designs. 
in offering him assistance. 

Had Lewis been free now to direct a large army on 
Holland, the States-General would not have allowed 
William to move from home, nor to take with t „,„•., 

^ X-<CW1S s 

him Dutch troops ; but the war with the Em- war with 
peror demanded all the French troops, and for oppOTUi'ne 
weeks before the actual declaration of hostili- '^^^ Wiiham. 
ties the army stationed on the borders of Flanders had 
been steadily making towards the Rhine. Lewis did, 
indeed, instruct his ambassador to inform the States- 
General that if any direct act of hostility was committed 
by Holland against his ally, the King of England, he 
should consider it as a declaration of war. 

James, on his part, after receiving the warning of Lewis, 
gave him no encouragement to interfere more x 

" _ o James 

actively. To the offer by the French king of refuses 
naval assistance James replied in a contemp- offers of 
tuous manner, either wishing his subjects to ^^^P" 
suppose that he himself felt safe on his throne, or giving 



128 TJie Fall of the Sttiarts, &c. a.d. 

way to one of those outbursts of sullen pride to which 
he was subject. 

The unpopularity of James with his subjects and the 
Chances of war against Germany undertaken by Lewis 
Williams were two crreat aids in ensuring the ultimate 

success are ° _ _ •=' 

great. success of William. 

Section VII. — William's Pi-odamation. 

In September a proclamation was drawn up for 
William which was translated into English by Burnet 
for circulation. It was dated from the Hague, October 
lo, and set forth in temperate language the various 
grievances to which the English people had been sub- 
jected. It stated that their .liberties, laws, and religion 
were imperilled ; that the birth of the young prince was 
attended by such grave suspicions as to demand the 
strictest and most impartial investigation ; that at the 
request of many lords, both temporal and spiritual, and 
of other persons of all ranks, he (William) had been 
requested to repair to England, accompanied by such 
forces as would be sufficiently strong to repel violence. 
It concluded by solemnly assuring Englishmen 
ciamation of that in thus acting William had no thoughts 
William. q£ conquest, that the troops should be kept 

under the strictest discipline ; that as soon as the 
nation was free he could send them back to Holland, 
and that his sole object was to obtain the assembhng of 
a free and legal parliament which should decide all 
Cjuestions public and private. 

James now became fully alive to the situation. He 
was willing to make concessions. He gave audience 
(October 2) to all the bishops then in London, 
m^alJes con- and listened to their advice without bursting 
cessions. -j^^^ ^ passion. They counselled him to 

return to a legal course of government, to summon a 



1688. Williani's Proclamation. 129 

parliament, to abolish the Ecclesiastical Commission, to 
redress the wrongs done to the corporate towns and the 
universities, and, if possible, to rejoin the church of his 
father and grandfather. As if to add force to the counsel 
of the bishops, and to quicken James's decision, riots 
broke out in London, and several Romish chapels were 
burnt. 

Some of the suggestions of the bishops were adopted 
by James. Many dignitaries who had been displaced — 
Compton, bishop of London, among them — were rein- 
stated. The charter of the city of London was carried 
back in state to the Guildhall. The Ecclesiastical Com- 
mission was abolished. The president and fellows of 
Magdalen were restored to their college. Sunderland 
and Father Petre were dismissed from their seats in the 
council. But the king would not yield his claim of the 
' dispensing power.' 

On October 21 James met at Whitehall all the peers, 
both spiritual and temporal, who could be collected, the 
judges, the Lord Mayor and aldermen of proofs of 
London, and laid before them minute proofs the birth 
of the birth of the Prince of Wales. The prince 
evidence was sufficient to convince impartial Produced. 
minds, and all those present were satisfied. But the 
great majority of the people were still unconvinced ; they 
were not impartial, and there were few English Protes- 
tants of that generation who did not consider the young 
prince an impostor, whom the Jesuits were endeavouring 
to foist on the country. 

Burnet's translation of the ' Declaration ' of William 
reached London about November i, and was secretly and 
swiftly passed from hand to hand. 



MM. 



K 



130 



The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. 



A.D. 




1688. William in England. 131 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Revolution. 
Section I. — William in England, 
On the 1 6th of October William took leave of the Dutch 
Estates. He told them that he v^^ent to Eng- 
land in defence of the reformed rehgion, and takes leave of 
of the independence of Europe ; ' that he *^^^ Uutch. 
might not return, but in that case left his beloved wife in 
their care.' He himself spoke with unfaltering voice, but 
the Assembly was not equally calm, many of the members 
being moved even to tears. But William remained* ' firm 
in his usual gravity and phlegm.' 

On the 19th, the embarkation took place at Helvoet- 
sluys. The fleet consisted of 50 men of war, wiiiiam sets 
25 frigates, some fire ships, and 400 transports, sail, 
having on board 4,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry fully 
equipped. Much discussion and some, difference of opinion 
had arisen as to the part of England on which the descent 
should be made. Lord Danby had been anxious it should 
be in Yorkshire, and thither the fleet was first steered. 

But few hours had passed at sea before a violent west 
wind arose, which drove the ships back to 
harbour. An English fleet, commanded by Lord winds delay 
Dartmouth, lay at the mouth of the Thames. '^^ ^^^'^• 
An east wind, which would be favourable to William, 
would prevent James's fleet from leaving its anchorage. 
For days, however, the west wind blew, and Dartmouth 
was prepared, on the first intelligence of William's fleet 
putting to sea, to sail for the Yorkshire coast. 

During this delay, William altered his plans. He 
resolved to land in the West of England, in 
that West which had before shown its attach- down 
ment to Protestantism by proclaiming Mon- channel. 
mouth, and had in consequence suffered so much from 



fy2 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.D. 

James and his creature Jeffreys. The wind at length 
changed on the ist of November; a favourable easterly 
breeze set in, ' a Protestant wind.' For the second time 
William put to sea. The transports were in the centre ; 
to windward and leeward the Dutch men-of-war were 
formed, William's flagship among them, to protect the 
transports. The rear of the fleet was brought up by a 
squadron under Admiral Herbert, so that in case Lord 
Dartmouth should come up with the fleet, he would 
find himself confronted by English ships. But the 
east wind effectually prevented Dartmouth from follow- 
ing William. Favoured by a fresh gale, William's fleet 
rapidly sailed down channel without meeting a hostile 
ship. 

Off Torbay the fleet cast anchor, and Wilham landed. 
William T^^ day of his landing was November 5, 

lands. the day already endeared to Protestants, the 

anniversary of the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. Dr. 
Burnet was amongst the first to disembark and present 
himself to William. Understanding nothing of mihtary 
matters, he fussily interrogated William as to his plans, as 
to which way he intended to march, and when, and de-« 
sired to be employed by him in whatever service he should 
think fit. William was ' cheerfuller than ordinary.' He 
replied by asking Burnet what he now thought of predestina- 
tion, and by advising him, if he had a mind to be busy, to 
consult the canons. 

William now set to work to make arrangements for 
Marches to ^^ landing of his troops. By noon of the 
Exeter. 6th, the whole force was on its way to Exeter. 

There William remained for ten days. He was at first 
disappointed at not being joined by the nobility and gen- 
try. Lamplugh, the bishop, had fled from the city, to join 
James. But before a week was over, the news of WilHam's 



1665. Progress of the Revohition. 133 

arrival at Exeter with a large army had spread, and many 
men of consideration joined his standard. 

The Dutch troops of William were regarded with 
friendly feelings. The farmers, the tradesmen, ^j^^ Dutch 
and the peasants of the West were struck by troops well 
the contrast between William^s soldiers and 
those whom James had formerly billeted on them. Instead 
of living at free quarters amongst them, all provisions 
were punctually paid for, and the people consequently 
willingly sold to the soldiers whatever they required. 

Section II. — Progress of the Revotutio?t. 

But it was not in the W^est of England only that the 
standard of W^illiam was raised. Lord Delamere in 
Cheshire put himself at the head of his ten- Revolution 
ants, and rode through Manchester, rousing in the North. 
the townspeople. The Earl of Danby, at the head of one 
hundred gentry and yeomanry, dashed into York, and 
gaining over the militia, who received him with shouts of 
^ A free Parliament and the Protestant religion,' placed the 
governor under arrest, and won the city for William. The 
Earl of Devonshire, equally successful in Derby, marched 
thence to Nottingham, where he was joined by Lords 
Manchester, Stamford, Rutland, Chesterfield, Cholmon- 
deley, and Grey de Ruthyn. 

Norwich was seized for William by the Duke of Nor- 
folk. Oxford, the headquarters of Toryism, welcomed 
Lord Lovelace with acclamations, town and 
gown uniting in shouts of ' No Popery.' Centre of 

Lord Feversham, commander-in-chief of ^"§1^"^. 
the royal forces, had despatched troops to the West with 
the utmost speed, in order to check William's advance. 
James's army greatly exceeded in numbers that of William, 
but his officers were not to be trusted. The van, consist- 



1 34 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.D. 

ing principally of cavalry, had reached Salisbury, where 
it had halted. The officer in command was Lord Cornbury, 
^ , . , eldest son of the Earl of Clarendon, and 

Jjefection of , -i , . ^ i , ,- -^r 

Lord nephew to the kmg. On the 14th of Novem- 

Cornbury. ^^^ j^^ 1^^^ i\\YQQ regiments out of the town 
towards Blandford, under the pretence of surprising an 
advanced outpost of the Prinoe of Orange. On the road 
he tried to induce the soldiers to join him in deserting to 
William. Finding himself less successful than he antici- 
pated, he, with a few followers, galloped off, leaving the 
troops to return to Salisbury. News of this desertion 
reached James on the 15th. His grief, and that of 
his queen, was excessive. But the man under whose 
influence Cornbury had acted was Lord Churchill. 

Section III. — Lord Churchill. 

John Churchill had been in boyhood a page of the 
Duke of York. He stood high in James's favour, and his 
interests were well looked after. He received a commis- 
sion in the Guards, and served in Africa. He 
early career afterwards accompanied James both on the 
and marriage. Continent and to Scotland, and was with him 
when he was shipwrecked. In 1681 he married Sarah 
Jennings, an attendant on the Princess Anne. 

The influence of Lady Churchill over Anne was un- 
bounded. By her interest, Churchill in 1682 was pro- 
j j^(j moted to a colonelcy in the Guards, and to a 

Churchill. Scotch peerage. On the accession of James 
the Scotch peerage was converted into an English one. 

In the suppression of Monmouth's rebellion, Churchill 
was high in command under Feversham. But notwith- 
standing the confidence placed in him by James, and the 
Churchill favours he had received, Churchill entered into 
corresponds correspondence with William, before that 
William. prince had resolved on his expedition to Eng_ 

land. He saw that the cause of James was a losing cause. 



1688. Collapse of the Court Party. 135 

Therefore he deliberately set about to betray his patron. 
By his connivance a widespread conspiracy among 
the officers of the army was arranged, and the first- 
fruit of this was the defection of James's nephew 
Cornbury. 

Churchill's after career showed him to be a man of the 
greatest genius. He shone alike as a general and a diplo- 
matist. But his character for faithlessness he character of 
never lost. Loving his wife with a devotion Churchill. 
which was almost romantic, he threw himself, heart and 
soul, into her schemes ; and her schemes were all directed 
to personal aggrandisement and to heaping together wealth. 
Churchill was true only to that cause, or that master, who 
best requited his services. He unhesitatingly sacrificed 
his patriotism, his promises, and his friends to his own 
and his wife's greed and ambition. It is true that he had 
been brought up in a profligate and unprincipled court, 
that his education had been entirely neglected, and that 
his conduct was not worse than that of many of the poli- 
ticians of the day. But the glory he afterwards achieved, 
and the greatness of his natural powers, bring into 
stronger light the base motives which regulated his con- 
duct. 



Section IV. — Collapse of the Court Party afid attei7ipt 
of the King to fly . 

James called together the chief officers of his army 
still in London, and consulted them as to the spirit of dis- 
loyalty which had manifested itself. Among those present 
at this council were Churchill, the Duke of churchiii 
Grafton, Kirke, and Trelawny, brother of the ^"'^ o^^^"" 

' _ ' ^ ' omcers swear 

bishop of Bristol. All swore they would be to be loyal. 
true to the last drop of their blood. 

A large body of peers, both lay and spiritual, with the 



1 36 TJie Fall of the Stuarts, &c. A D. 

archbishop, Sancroft, at their head, presented to James a 
Tames petition, asking him to summon a parhament 

refuses the and to negotiate with the Prince of Orange. 
and^setVoff" The king indignantly refused to hsten to their 
for his army, arguments in favour of the terms of the peti- 
tion. 'Was this a time,' said he, 'to call together a 
parliament, when a foreign enemy was in the country ? ' 
Then, attended by the officers in whom he trusted, but by 
whom he was being betrayed, he set out for Salisbury, 
where he arrived on the 19th. 

Feversham waited on James immediately after his 
arrival, and reported the spread of disaffection in his 
army. News also arrived that the troops of the Prince of 
Orange were advancing from Exeter. A council of war 
was held on the evening of the 24th. Feversham proposed 
that the king should retire with his army to Windsor, lest 
William should cut him off from the capital. Churchill 
was for advancing. James was inclined to take the 
Disaffection ^dvice of the latter, and was on the point of 
spreads. proceeding to Warminster, where Kirke and 

Trelawny were stationed with their regiments, when a 
sudden attack of bleeding at the nose detained him in his 
lodgings. Had he set out, he would have found himself 
betrayed into William's hands. During the succeeding 
night Churchill and Grafton deserted, and with Kirke and 
Trelawny and their regiments joined William. On the 
morning of the 25th, James and his troops were in full 
retreat towards London. 

Prince George of Denmark, Anne's husband, had 

accompanied James. On reaching Andover, he and the 

Duke of Ormond supped with the king. Be- 

George fore the next morning both were miles away 

of Denmark ^^ their road to join William. The king was 

and Prmcess -' ° 

Anne leave less hurt by their defection than by that of 

^"^" his old favourite and protdge Churchill, but he 

had yet to learn the further grief the latter had prepared 



1688. Collapse of tJic Court Pai'ty. 137 

for him. On reaching London on the 27th he found that 
his daughter, the Princess Anne, had on the previous 
night, accompanied by Lady Churchill, and escorted by 
the bishop of London, set out to join the insurgents under 
Danby at Nottingham. The unhappy king now fairly 
broke down. ^ God only can help me, for my own 
children have forsaken me,' he exclaimed. 

London was in an uproar. On the afternoon of the 
27th a council of peers, temporal and spiritual, was held at 
Whitehall. James announced that now the james offers 
aspect of affairs had changed. He said that concessions, 
he had declined to accede to their petition before his de- 
parture for Salisbury, but that now he would do so. A 
parliament should be summoned to meet on the 15th of 
January, a free pardon should be granted to all now in 
rebellion, and a commission should be appointed to treat 
with William. As an earnest of the change in his conduct, 
James dismissed Sir Edward Hales, the papist, from his 
office as heutenant of the Tower. Barillon, however, who 
was in James's secret confidence, wrote to ^^ j^ 
Lewis that all James's promises were but a insincere, 
feint, and that he intended going over to Ireland, after 
he had sent his wife and child to Lewis for protection. 
Some days before, James had ordered Dartmouth to con- 
vey the infant prince in his fleet from Portsmouth to 
France, but Dartmouth had refused to obey, pointing out 
to the king the evil consequences of such a step. 

In the meantime the commissioners accredited by 
James to William proceeded to Hungerford, where the 
prince's army was encamped. A slight skir- Conference 
mish had taken place between the king's Irish commfs- 
troops and William's advanced guard near sioners of 

^ ° James and 

Reading. In this the temper of the English William. 
had been conclusively shown, for the townspeople of 
Reading had joined the Dutch in attacking the Irish, 
declaring the latter to be the natural enemies of English- 



138 The Fall of the Stuarts , &c. a.D. 

men. The terms which the commissioners agreed on with 
William were : that the latter should halt his troops twenty 
miles to the westward of London, that the troops of 
James should be removed an equal distance to the east, 
that Romanists should be dismissed from office, and that 
the Tower and Tilbury Fort should be placed in the hands 
of the Londoners. 

Whilst the conference was taking place at Hunger- 
^, ford, the queen and the infant prince were 

ihe queen 1 1 \ i , 

and her child (December loth) placed on board a vessel 
escape. lying in the Thames, and, favoured by a fair 

wind, were well on their voyage to France. 

On the evening of the loth James learnt that the queen 
and his son had been got off safely. Early on the morn- 
ing of the nth he secretly left his palace, and, 
accompanied by Sir Edward Hales, took a 
wherry, crossed the river, throwing into it the Great Seal, 
and made the best of his way to Sheerness. 

Feversham had been ordered by James to disband his 
Riots in soldiers. The London mob, hearing of the 

London. king's flight, and no longer in fear of the 

troops, began to riot. The Romish chapels were pulled 
down, the houses of ambassadors were pillaged. Sunder- 
land and Father Petre were sought for, but without suc- 
cess, for they had previously left the kingdom ; but 
Jeffreys Avas caught, disguised as a sailor, in a low public 
house at Wapping, and was handed over to the lord- 
mayor, who placed him in the Tower. 



1688. James quits England. 139 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE INTERREGNUM, AND EVENTS IN SCOTLAND, IRELAND, 
AND ON THE CONTINENT. 

Section I. — James quits Engla7id. 

The peers who happened to be in London, amongst whom 
were archbishop Sancroft and Hahfax, met a.d. 1688. 
at the Guildhall, in association with the lord t^kenTo^pre- 
mayor and aldermen, to concert measures serve peace. 
for the public safety. They secured the Tower, and de- 
spatched messengers to William, urging him to come to 
London without delay. They also sent instructions to 
Lord Dartmouth, forbidding him to engage with the Dutch 
fleet, and enjoining him to dismiss all Popish officers 
under him. 

James had, unfortunately, been stopped near Sheemess 
by the Kentish fishermen. They thought he was a fugi- 
tive of importance, perhaps the hated Father Petre the 
Jesuit. The Earl of Winchilsea chanced to be at Canter- 
bury, and heard that a great personage had 
been detained. He hurried to Sheerness, brought back 
and found the king in the hands of a rough ^° London. 
and ill-disposed mob. He immediately sent a messenger 
to the provisional government in London. Feversham 
was ordered to take a troop of Life Guards to protect the 
king, and to bring him to London. This detention of 
James was most inopportune, for to it mainly is owing the 
rise of the Jacobite party in England. If James had got 
clear away, it would have been held by the Tories and 
the behevers in the ' divine right,' that the king had de- 
serted his people, and that therefore the people were set 
free from their allegiance, and were at liberty to take any 
steps to provide for the security of the nation. But the 
fact that James was brought back to London, escorted by 



140 The Fall of the SUiartSy &c. a.d. 

troops, and the events which followed, together gave a 
colour to the statement that he was ultimately driven 
away by a faction ; and Bancroft showed that the king's 
return in his opinion altered the position of affairs, for on 
hearing that James was in England, he at once absented 
himself from the council. It was on the 17th of December 
that James re-entered London and took up his abode at 
Whitehall. 

William had already reached Windsor when the news 
of James's return was brought him. Soon after, Lord 
^, Feversham arrived with a letter from James 

The 17th of TTT-11- • r TTT-11- 

December at to William, proposmg a conference. William 
Windsor. ^^ once declined, but he detained Feversham 

with him, and sent his refusal by Zulestein, one of his 
most trusted Dutch officers. Halifax and the majority of 
those peers who had formed the provisional government 
also hurried to Windsor to meet William. The state of 
affairs was critical. Wilham desired the peers to consult 
together, but declined to be present at their deliberation, 
requesting them, however, to let him know at once the 
result. The conclusion at which they arrived was that, 
as the preliminary to any settlement of affairs, James 
must be requested to leave London. 

William thought the demand a proper one, and told 
Halifax and two other peers to take it to the king. Ham 
House, near Richmond, was proposed to James as a suit- 
able residence. 

It was at this juncture that Lord Clarendon, James's 
brother-in-law, who had followed his son's 
don's advice example in deserting James, requested a short 
to William. interview with William, and used every argu- 
ment to induce William to place James in secure confine- 
ment, urging as one reason that it was the only means of 
preserving tranquillity in Ireland, and of preventing the 
utter extinction of the Protestants in that island. But 



1688. 



James quits England. 141 



William resolutely refused to put any personal restraint 
on his wife's father. 

Early on the morning of the i8th, James was aroused 
by the arrival of the three peers from Wind- James 

T - ^ , - T 1 -11 chooses Ro- 

sor. He refused to go to Ham, but said he Chester as a 
would prefer Rochester as a residence, Wil- residence, 
liam was glad enough to give his consent, for Rochester 
was a convenient place from which James might make his 
escape, and his voluntary flight would remove many diffi- 
culties from William's path. 

Whilst James was proceeding down the river to 
Rochester, William entered London, guarded 
by the British soldiers in the Dutch pay, and entry into 
took up his abode at St. James's. Hi's entry London, 
was a triumphant one. Orange ribbons and orange flags 
were everywhere displayed. All the persons of con- 
sequence in London hastened to pay him their respects. 
But now the difficulty arose how to provide for a tem- 
porary government. It was proposed to William, and 
agreed to by him, that a ' Convention' should be summoned. 
Accordingly the House of Lords was con- Convention 
voked, and a second house was formed of all summoned. 
those who had sat in ai\y of Charles's Parliaments, and of 
the lord mayor, aldermen, and fifty of the common 
council of London. Both Houses were unanimous in re- 
questing William to administer the government for a time, 
and to issue circular letters to the counties and boroughs 
to send up representatives to a Convention, which was to 
meet on January 22, 1689. 

On the 22nd of December, James, with four com- 
panions, escaped from Rochester. They 
sailed down the Med way in a small boat, kngth 
boarded a vessel in the Thames, and in three escapes. 
days James had joined his wife and infant child at St. Ger- 
mains, in France. Personal fear hurried him to fly. His 



142 The Fall of the Stuarts, &€. a.d. 

father's fate was before his eyes. Sancroft prayed him to 
remain ; Graham of Claverhouse, who had been by him 
created Viscount Dundee, wrote to tell him he was coming 
to his succour with a Scotch army ; but both entreaty 
and proffered help were without avail. The events of the 
last few days had completely unnerved him, and without 
letting his adherents know of his resolution, he fled to the 
protection of Lewis XIV. On the next day Barillon was 
Bariiion Ordered by William to leave England within 

dismissed. twcnty-four hours. In vain he pleaded am- 
bassadorial rights. William would tolerate no spy on his 
conduct, and the wily and able envoy unwillingly set off 
for his native land. 



Section II. — The Convention. 

On January 22, 1689 the Convention met. In the 
Lower House it was carried, after a slight opposition 

from the Tories : (i.) That King James having 
votrthe"^ endeavoured to subvert the constitution of the 
throne kingdom, by breaking the original contract 

between king and people, and by the advice 
of Jesuits and other wicked persons having violated the 
fundamental laws, and having withdrawn himself out of 
the kingdom, has abdicated the government, and that 
the throne is thereby vacant, (ii.) That it hath been 
found by experience inconsistent with the safety and wel- 
fare of this Protestant kingdom to be governed by a Po- 
pish prince. 

But in the Upper House the Tories had more weight, 
and they again recurred to their belief in the doctrine of 
Lords dis- passive obedience, and of the indefeasible 
agree. tenure of the crown. The Lords, therefore, 

although they agreed to the second resolution of the Com- 
mons, sent back the first one with the word ' abdicated ' 



1689. The Convention. 143 

altered into 'deserted,' and with the clause declarins: 
the throne vacant struck out. 

• In this dilemma a Conference was held between the 
Committees of the two Houses. It is noteworthy that 
in the 16th and 17th centuries a spirit of com- conference 
promise both in religious and political affairs between the 
was often prevalent, whereas, in later times, 
principles are pushed to their limits. And the Conference 
of 1689 illustrates this. It is also remarkable for the self- 
control and patriotic feeling displayed by both parties. It 
would seem as if William's spirit of stern determination 
to do what he thought to be his duty had rekindled again 
in English statesmen the same spirit. Both Whigs and 
Tories appeared to feel that each must yield cherished 
convictions rather than imperil the State. 

The deliberations of the Conference resulted in an 
offer of the regency to William, and the crown to Mary 
but this was met by William's refusal, and by the assertion 
of Mary (who had now joined her husband) that she would 
not reign except in conjunction with him. 

Eventually, on the 13th of February, the .crown was 
offered to William and Mary jointly, and accepted by 
them. This offer was accompanied by the famous ' de- 
claration of rights,' presented by both Houses, Declaration 
and accepted by William. The draught of the of Rights. 
declaration was made by Somers, who had already gained 
a reputation by his speech in defence of the bishops. The 
declaration is one of the great events in the constitutional 
history of England. It is an assertion of the ' true, an- 
cient, and indubitable rights of the people of this realm.' 
It declared : 

(i.) That the making or suspending laws without 
consent of Parliament is illegal ; 

(ii.) That the exercise of the dispensing power is 
illegal ; 



144 



The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. 



A.D. 



(iii, 
(iv. 

(v. 
(vi. 

(vii. 
(viii. 

(ix. 

(X. 

(xi. 

(xii. 

(xiii 



That the Ecclesiastical Commission Court, and 
other such like courts, are illegal ; 

That levying money, without consent of Parlia- 
ment, is illegal ; 

That it is lawful to petition the sovereign ; 

That the maintenance of a standing army with- 
out consent of Parliament is illegal ; 

That it is lawful to keep arms ; 

That elections of members of Parliament must 
be free ; 

That there must be freedom of debate in Par- 
liament ; 

That excessive bail should never be demanded ; 

That juries should be impanelled and returned 
in every trial ; 

That grants of estates as forfeited, before con- 
viction of the offender, are illegal ; 

That Parliaments should be held frequently. 



It concluded, that ' they (the people of this realm) do 
claim, demand, and insist upon, all and singular the pre- 
mises, as their undoubted rights and liberties.' 

By this declaration, therefore, the rights of personal 
security, of personal liberty, and of private property were 
claimed by the people, and admitted by the crown. 

Section III. — The Revolutio7i i7i Scotlattd. 
At the first prospect of invasion from Holland, James 
had ordered the regiments on duty in Scotland to march 
southward. The withdrawal of the troops 
was followed by outbreaks in various parts. 
In Glasgow, the covenanters rose, and pro- 
claimed the Prince of Orange king. In Edinburgh riots 
broke out. The chapel of Holy rood Palace was dis- 
mantled, and the Romish bishops and priests fled in fear 
for their lives. 



Disturb- 
ances in 
Scotland. 



1689. The Revolution in Scotland. 145 

On hearing that William had entered into London, the 
leading Whigs, under the Duke of Hamilton, repaired 
thither, and had an interview with him. He invited them 
to meet in Convention. This they accord- convention 
ingly did, and on January 9, 1689, it was re- meets. 
solved to request William to summon a meeting of the 
Scottish Estates for the 14th of March, and in the interim 
to administer the government. To this William con- 
sented. 

The Estates of Scotland met on the appointed day. 
All the bishops, and a great number of the -peers were ad- 
herents of James. After a stormy debate, the 
Duke of Hamilton was elected president, the Scotch 
But the minority (Jacobites) was a large one. Estates. 

With an eye to any future change, and in order to pre- 
serve their titles and estates, many of the Scotch nobility 
now adopted a singular expedient, which remained in 
vogue for some years after. The head of the house joined 
one party, whilst the heir threw in his fortunes with the 
other. 

The Duke of Gordon still held Edinburgh Castle for 
James, and when the minority found it hopeless to carry 
their measures, he proposed they should with him with- 
draw from Edinburgh and hold a rival Con- Minority 
vention at Stirling. But these intentions disaffected 
were discovered, many Jacobites were arrested, and many 
others, amongst them Viscount Dundee, escaped to the 
Highlands. 

In the end, the crown was offered to William and 
Mary on the same terms on which it had been o^v, 

•' I ne crown 

offered by the English Convention. The offer of Scotland 
was accompanied by a claim of rights, almost wiliiam and 
identical with the English declaration, but Mary, 
containing the additional clause, that ^prelacy was a great 
and insupportable grievance.^ 

M.H. L 



146 The Fail of the Stuarts, &c. a.d 

On April 11, 1689, William and Mary were so- 
lemnly proclaimed at the Cross of Edinburgh. 

It was high time some form of government should be 
settled, for, throughout the Lowlands, scenes of mob vio- 
lence were daily witnessed. The Presbyterians, so long 
down-trodden, rose in many a parish. The 

The rabbling. ^ . , ' • /-, 

Episcopal clergy were ejected, m some cases 
with bloodshed. The 'rabbling^ as it is called in Scotch 
history, continued for some months, until the Presbyte- 
rian Church was reinstated by law as the Established 
Church of Scotland, in June 1690. 

Section IV. — The Revolution in Ireland. 
In Ireland, the Revolution made but little progress. 
Tyrconnel's Tyrcomiel had disarmed all the Protestants, 
measures. except thosc in the North. He had a large 
force of 20,000 men under arms, and of this force all the 
officers were trustworthy and Papists. He had filled the 
corporations of the towns with adherents of James. He 
had shown himself to be, as ever, tyrannical and unscru- 
pulous. It was universally believed by the Protestants 
that a general massacre, a second St. Bartholomew, 
was intended. Even a day, December 9, was, they 
thought, fixed for the expected outbreak. The garrison of 
Londonderry had been temporarily withdrawn. 
sionrofTro- On December 8, Lord Antrim arrived in 
testants. command of 12,000 soldiers, to form the 

new garrison. Without any warning, the Protestant ap- 
prentices (' the prentice boys of Derry,') shut the gates of 
the city in his face. The inhabitants, in spite of the en- 
treaties of the bishop and of the town council, refused to 
allow them to be opened. Antrim was compelled to with- 
draw. Thus one rallying-point was gained for the oppo- 
nents of James. Another was found in Enniskillen, 
sixty miles south of Londonderry. Into these two 



1688. Devastation of the Palatinate. 147 

towns poured all the Protestants from the surrounding 
districts. 

With these two exceptions, the boast of Tyrconnel 
that Ireland was true, was well founded. In ^^ . ^ . , 

.,, ' . . , . Native Irish 

order, however, still further to increase his called to 
forces, he called on the native Irish to join his ^^"^*- 
standards. As many as 50,000 are said to have obeyed 
his summons and to have submitted to drill ; and 50,000 
more to have roamed about the country, soldiers in name 
but robbers in reality. 

Section V. — Devastation of the Palatinate. 
We have seen how Lewis withdrew his troops from 
Flanders in order to increase his forces on ^ . ^ 

r • r T^ rr- Lewis lorms 

the north-eastern frontier of France. 1 wo two corps 
corps d'arm^e were formed. The one nomi- ^ armee. 
nally under the command of the Dauphin, eldest son of 
Lewis, with whom served Marshal Duras and the great 
Vauban, the other under the Marquis of Boufflers. 

The first of these armies, early in October 1688, 
undertook the siege of Philipsburg, which Their 
place surrendered after a month. It then success. 
marched to Mannheim, at the confluence of the Neckar 
and Rhine. Mannheim immediately submitted, and the 
French thus became masters of the Palatinate on the right 
bank of the Rhine. The second corps d'armee, under 
Boufflers, took possession of Mainz, Worms, Speyer, 
Kreutznach, and the whole of the possessions of the 
Elector Palatine on the left bank of the Rhine. Then it 
ascended the Moselle and captured Trier (Treves). 

When Lewis heard that William had made good his 
descent on England, he declared war against the United 
Provinces, November 28, 1688. The Dutch Lewis's forces 
therefore were now actively engaged against 'nadequate. 
him. Germany was arming in hot haste. The Diet 



148 The Fall of tJie Stuarts, &c, a.d. 

had assembled at Regensburg (Ratisbon). The forces 
which France had at its disposal were not numerous 
enough to hold all the conquests they had so rapidly- 
made. 

Louvois accordingly advised Lewis to destroy the cap- 
tured towns rather than allow them to be re-occupied by 
the enemy. Lewis was troubled by no scruples when he 
fancied that his interests, or ambitious schemes, were en- 
dangered. He took a step which added another stain to 
his name, and which caused France and Frenchmen to be 
hated by Germans. The French generals were ordered to 
Palatinate burn cvcry town and village of the Palatinate, 
ravaged. ^^jj ^q devastate the country with fire and 

sword. Heidelberg Castle, the magnificent seat of the Elec- 
tor Palatine, was committed to the flames ; Mannheim, 
Speyer, Worms, Oppenheim, Bingen, in rapid succession, 
shared its fate. Cathedrals, churches, public buildings, 
monuments of art, the work of successive rulers, from 
imperial Rome downwards, were not spared. More than 
forty towns and large villages became blackened ruins 
Crops, vineyards, orchards, were alike destroyed, and a 
rich and populous district was turned into a desert. One 
hundred thousand families wandered homeless in search 
of refuge from their implacable foes. 

The Diet^ in declaring war, January 24, 1689, sum- 
Resolutions moned all Germany to vengeance. The Em- 
of the Diet. peror denounced Lewis as the enemy of all 
Christendom, and called on Europe to join in a crusade 
against him, as against a Turk and an infidel. French- 
men were put under the ban of the Empire; all commerce 
with France was interdicted ; all French subjects, even 
those in domestic service, were expelled from Germany. 

Lewis's conduct is indefensible. Voltaire, the great 
French philosopher who lived in the next century, in 
his 'Age of Lewis XI V./ excuses him by suggesting that 



1689. Williavis First Ministers. 149 

he would not have given such barbarous orders if he 
couid have seen with his own eyes the misery he 
caused. Other French writers claim that the No excuse 
law of war permits any action which can ^o"" Lewis. 
injure the enemy. But if this principle were admitted, 
assassins might be employed to take the life of the 
opposing general. No civilised nation can make war in 
such fashion. A fortified town which is captured may 
be dismantled, not burnt ; — a defenceless village must 
be spared. 

It was at this juncture that James arrived at St. Ger- 
mains. Lewis received him with studied ex- 

Tallies 

pressions of hospitality. He begged him, so arrives at St. 
long as he would honour him with his com- Germams. 
pany, to receive a yearly allowance of 45,000/. ; he sent 
him 10,000/. for his immediate use. He ordered his 
courtiers to treat him and his queen with every mark of 
respect due to crowned heads. But James himself inspired 
those brought into contact with him with no respect. The 
French nobles commiserated the queen, but they re- 
marked of James that it was no wonder he was at 
St. Germains and his son-in-law at St. James's. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE FIRST YEAR OF THE REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 

Section I. — The Mhiistry. 
William and Mary were not as yet secure on the 
throne, Scotland and Ireland were in arms, ^.^ , . 

' . „ , , , Difficulties 

and a large party in England was by no of William's 
means satisfied with its Dutch sovereign. P°crea°ed by 
William, although a wise and prudent man, his personal 

unpopularity 

did not make many friends. His manners 

were cold ; he was ungenial and leaned too much on his 



1 50 TJie Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

Dutch comrades, Schomberg, Bentinck, and Zulestein. He 
had this excuse, that they were tried friends whom he knew 
he could trust: and he felt no such certainty about English 
statesmen. He suffered also from asthma, a wearying 
complaint, which made him often petulant. He was, in 
fact, unpopular. On the other hand, fortunately, Mary 
Mary is "^^^ ^Y nature formed to attract affection and 

popular. loyalty. She was handsome, and her manners 

were winning. Her greatest pleasure was in relieving 
distress, and her private character was irreproachable. 
No scandalous tale was ever told of her. 

William chose the leading men of each party to form 
his first ministry or cabinet. But he reserved one impor- 
,„ tant post, that of foreign minister, for himself. 

William his ,_, , . . . , ., . . 

own foreign Throughout his reign he allowed no mmister 
minister. ^^ regulate the foreign policy of England. 

Parliament often interfered, much to William's disgust, 
but no ' secretary for foreign affairs,' with narrow or in- 
sular policy, was permitted by William to endanger the 
grand object of his life, the lessening the power of 
France, so that it should no longer be dangerous to the 
liberties and progress of any European nation, or to the 
Protestant faith. 

William gave the presidency of the council to Danby, 
,„.„. , created Marquis of Carmarthen. Danby repre- 

William s .-, ,. -,, 

first mi- sented the Tories of the earlier part of Charles 

nisters. \\^s rcign, but had nevertheless shown that 

such principles were not incompatible with patriotism. 
Halifax, the treasurer, was made privy seal. Lord Shrews- 
bury, the young rising Whig, one of the ' seven patriots,' 
was made one secretary of state ; the other secretaryship 
was given to Lord Nottingham, a Tory, by whose appoint 
ment William hoped to gratify the Tory country gentlemen 
and the High Church clergy. Admiral Herbert had charge 
of the navy. The Great Seal was not filled, but put in 



1689. Proceedings in Parliament. 151 

commission. New judges were appointed, and Somers 
was created solicitor-general. All the subordinate posts 
were carefully divided by William between the Whigs 
and Tories. To William's faithful Dutch followers were 
given the most important posts in the household. Such 
an arrangement was natural, but nevertheless caused 
great jealousy amongst English courtiers. 

Section II. — Proceedings in Parliament. 
The Nonjurors. 
On February 18 the Convention sat as a Parlia- 
ment. The first bill passed by both Houses rQ^^g^tion 
was one which enacted that the Conven- declared a 
tion of January 22 represented the two 
Houses of Parliament, and that its proceedings were as 
valid as if the Houses had been summoned in the usual 
manner. The bill was accompanied by a clause declaring 
that no member should sit or vote in either ^ , ^ 

Oaths of 

House, after the ensuing first of March, who allegiance to . 
had not taken the prescribed oath of alle- 
giance to King William and Queen Mary. All office- 
holders, whether lay or spiritual, were ordered to take 
the oath before August i. If they declined to do so, 
they were, if laymen, to lose their office ; if clergymen, 
they were to be suspended for six months, and if they, at 
the end of that time, still refused to take the oath, they 
were to be deprived of their benefices. 

On March i a call of both Houses was made for the 
purpose of administering the oath to the members. 
The archbishop of Canterbury and seven -pj^^ ^^^_ 
bishops absented themselves from the House jurors. 
of Lords. Their example was followed by many of the in- 
ferior clergy, when the day (August i) came on which 
they were to be sworn. Six bishops and about 400 clergy 
were eventually (1691) deprived of their livings in accord- 



[52 The Fall of tJic Stuarts y &C. a.D. 

ance with the act of parliament. The nonjurors, as tliey 
were called, became henceforth a disturbing element in 
the settlement of the kingdom. Their conscientious 
scruples, and the sacrifices they made in following them, 
deserve a certain amount of our consideration ; but their 
tenets were dangerous to the liberties of the country. They 
believed James Stuart to be their lawful sovereign, and 
strove for his restoration. They held doctrines which 
involved extravagant views of sacerdotal power, and 
which would, if carried out, have undone the work of 
more than a century of Church reform. 

James II. had, by favouring Papists, done much to 
unite Churchmen and Nonconformists. A school of 
theologians had also for the last forty years flourished at 
Cambridge (belonging for the most part to Emmanuel 
College), who taught that a national church should be a 
Comprehen- Comprehensive one, and that the church itself 
si^oiiand existed not in 'coincidence of doctrine, but in 

loleration . . ' 

Kills. communion of spirit.' Their writings had 

from the first attracted attention, and latterly had gained 
some few converts. Various schemes of comprehension 
were advocated by politicians and theologians. William 
was himself interested. He had nothing of the religious 
bigot in his composition. He had no desire to persecute 
a man for his religious opinions, nor to confine within 
narrow limits the creed of the nation. He therefore 
heartily concurred in two bills, the Comprehension Bill 
and the Toleration Bill, being laid before the Houses 
of Parliament. 

But the country was not as yet prepared to enlarge 
the basis of the English Church. Freedom 
siorTBill ^^' of religious thought and opinion, although it 
fails. j^g^g always maintained a struggling existence 

in the English Church, had not as yet become popular. 
After various vicissitudes in Parliament, the Comprehen- 



1639. Proceedings i7i Parliament. 153 

sion Bill was eventually referred to Convocation, the par- 
liament of the clergy, and there it expired. 

A better fate awaited the Toleration Bill, for it was 
passed without much difficulty. The bill, Toleration 
inasmuch as it only exempted those who had ^^^^ passes. 
taken the new oaths of allegiance and supremacy from 
any penalties incurred for non-attendance at church, 
may appear to us to accord a very small amount of 
religious liberty. It was nevertheless a great step towards 
freedom of religious opinion. 

The Commons had to provide money for the exigencies 
of the Government. It was hoped by William that the sums 
voted to Tames for life would be continued to . 

•' Appropria- 

himself and Mary. But the Lower House at tionof 
.once showed that it had no such intention. It ^"^^ '^^' 
did not interfere with the crown lands, the hereditary re- 
venue of the sovereign. It voted a sum of money for im- 
mediate necessities, and repaid the Dutch their expenses 
of 600,000/. But it ordered the Exchequer to furnish 
annual estimates of expenditure and income, it determined 
that supplies should be annually voted in accordance 
with these estimates ; that each particular estimate should 
have a certain sum appropriated to it ; and that no sum 
should be expended on any other purpose than that for 
v/hich it had been voted. This principle of the appropria- 
tion of supplies had been generally the practice of the par- 
liaments of Charles II., although not of that of James II., 
but it was now formally declared to be necessary, and 
annually in every session from that time until the present 
the supplies have been appropriated. The principle 
is one of the great safeguards against the encroachments 
of the crown, or of an administration which cannot com- 
mand a parliamentary majority. 

Early in the Session, a Mutiny Bill was passed. The 
necessity for it arose thus. A Scotch regiment (now the 



154 TJie Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

1st Royals) had been ordered to embark for Holland, 
and Schomberg, William's trusted Dutch 
" ^"^ ' ■ general, was nominated to be its colonel. This 
nomination William had intended as a compliment to the 
regiment. But the officers were indignant, and, moreover, 
claimed that their regiment was under the control of the 
Scotch, and not the English, government. On the march 
to the east coast the regiment mutinied and broke off for 
Scotland. Overtaken by superior forces in Lincolnshire, 
and surrounded, it surrendered. But there was no law by 
which the mutineers could be punished. The existence 
of a standing army without the consent of Parliament, 
as reasserted in the Declaration of Rights, was illegal. 
Consequently, unless this consent were given, no soldier 
could be punished, nor could a court martial be held. For 
the necessary control of the army, Parliament, therefore, 
passed a Mutiny Bill ; the passing of such a bill showing 
its consent to the maintenance of a standing army. The 
bill conferred on officers of the army the power of enforcing 
discipline, and of billeting the soldiers in private houses. 
But this power was granted for one year only, and each 
year Parliament renews this power. 

Parliament, therefore, annually grants money for the 
payment of an army, and annually passes a bill for the 
discipline of that army, so that a sovereign cannot pay 
an army, nor raise an army, without consent of Parlia- 
ment. The very existence of an army, therefore, depends 
on the existence of Parliament, so that the sovereign 
must take care, if he wishes to retain an army, that 
Parliament holds a session each year, and that after the 
dissolution of a Parliament, a year should not elapse before 
a new Parliament meets. In the Mutiny Bill, therefore 
is found another great constitutional safeguard. 

The most important Act passed by this Parliament 
was the Bill of Rights. It confirmed the various clauses 



1689. Proceedings in Pm'lianient. 1 5 5 

of the Declaration of Rights, and embodied them in the 
bill. It also settled the succession of the 
crown, first on William and Mary, jointly, Rights 
then on the survivor of either, then on the P^^sed. 
heirs of Mary ; in default of any heirs of Mary, it was 
settled on the Princess Anne, and her heirs ; and in 
default of these on the heirs of William by any subse- 
quent marriage. The bill also provided that no papist 
should ever hold the crown. By the Bill of Rights the 
doctrine of Divine Right received its death-blow. From 
the passing of this bill, the sovereign of England reigns 
solely by virtue of an act of parliament. 

Carmarthen (Danby) the Tory lord president, had intro- 
duced a bill of general indemnity. William was anxious 
it should be carried. Parliament had reversed the attainders 
and sentences passed on the Whig sufferers in ^^.„ ^ ^ 

, . 1 T-TT-iT 1 1 Bill of In- 

the last two reigns, and William trusted that no demnity 
new prosecutions would be instituted against ^^^^^' 
those who had opposed the revolution which had placed 
him and Mary on the throne. The Whigs were not so for- 
giving. They had now the upper hand, and were not in- 
clined to mercy. So the Bill of Indemnity was dropped. 

It must be remarked that the great constitutional 
rights established in the first Parhament of William and 
Mary were not forced from an unwilling monarch, as had 
been the case with all concessions to the liberty of the 
subject made by the Tudor and Stuart sovereigns. 

The Parliament was finally dissolved in January 1690, 
its last days being marked by a struggle which had a 
great effect on the elections for the next Parliament. The 
Whigs, becoming daily more uncompromising vindictlve- 
and more vindictive, introduced a bill to pj!^ye^d%y 
exclude from any municipal of^ce for a period the Whigs. 
of seven years, any functionary who had been a party to 
the remodelling of a corporation, or to the surrendering 



156 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

the franchises of a borough. The rights of nearly every 
corporate town had under Tory municipahties been thus 
tampered with. If the bill, as proposed by the Whigs, 
had passed, all the leading Tories in the English boroughs 
would have been debarred from office. After stormy 
debates the bill was rejected, but the vindictiveness dis- 
played by the Whigs caused not merely a strong reaction 
against them, but even alienated the more moderate of 
their own party. 

Section III. — Scotland m 1689. 

The Earl of Argyle and two other commissioners pro- 
ceeded in April from Scotland to London to tender the 
coronation oath to William and Mary. The last clause 
of the oath was ' that they would be careful to root out 
all heretics and enemies to the true worship of God.' 
William objected. He said ' he would not lay himself 
under any obligation to be a persecutor.' The commis- 
Intoierance sioncrs assured him that neither the words of 
of religious |-j^g o?i\h nor the laws of Scotland required 

and political ^ 

parties. this. On this assurance William and Mary 

took the oaths. But the 'rabbling' of the episcopal 
clergy, and the continual occurrence of acts of mob violence 
committed under the guise of religion, showed William 
that his opinions about toleration were neither understood 
nor shared in by his Scotch subjects. Nor was less 
animosity exhibited by the conflicting political parties. 
Whig and Tory, puritan and episcopalian alike, gave 
vent to the most bitter feelings of hatred. 

The . 

Highlanders Dundee, who, to avoid arrest, had fled from 
^^^^^I .\, Edinburgh into the Highlands, there raised 

round the ° . 

standard of the Standard of James. The Highlanders 
James, knew but little of passing events. Uncivilised, 

cut off from communication with the more fortunate 
Lowlands by want of roads, forced to live by stealing, agri- 



1689. Scotland in 1689. 157 

culture being almost unknown amongst them, they had 
come to elevate robbery into an accomplishment and a 
virtue. The only law which bound them was obedience 
to their chief. By their Lowland neighbours they were 
regarded with disgust not unmixed with fear. Their chief- 
tains quarrelled and fought amongst themselves either 
for their possessions or for supremacy. At one time the 
Macdonalds had been the strongest clan ; but they had 
been deprived of their leadership by the Campbells, the 
chieftain of whom was Argyle. The fall of Argyle had 
been hailed with delight by those clans who opposed the 
Campbells. The advent of William of Orange therefore 
meant for them the return of Argyle and the restoration 
of the power of the Campbells. Without therefore caring 
for James, without either knowing, or troubhng themselves 
to look into, the political or religious aspects of the 
Revolution, the Macdonalds, the Macnaghtens, the Mac- 
leans, the Camerons, eagerly joined Dundee, in order to 
fight against their ancient antagonists the Campbells. 
The river Garry, before its junction with the Tay, flows 
through a succession of valleys, from the last of which it 
emerges through the pass of Killiecrankie. And assem- 
Inside this pass, commanding the vale, stood ^^^ ^^ ^'^'''• 
Blair Castle, the seat of the Marquis of Athol. This 
important and commanding position had been seized by 
Dundee's followers. 

General Mackay commanded William's army in 
Scotland, His troops consisted of the three Relative 
Scotch regiments, which had been serving in strength of 

° ' ° Dundee and 

Holland, one English regiment (now the 13th Mackay. 
Foot), two regiments of Scotch Milicia, and a small body 
of cavalry, — in all about 3,000 men. 

Dundee occupied Blair with 3,000 Highlanders, and 
300 Irish from Ulster. 

Mackay was desirous of at once quashing the insur- 



1 58 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

rection before all the Highlands rose in arms. He was 
fully aware of the want of cohesion in irregular troops, 
and knew that a blow speedily struck might at once dis- 
perse them. Putting his soldiers, therefore, at once in 
motion, he pressed on to meet Dundee. It was at the 
close of a long and weary march, that, on July 27, 
Mackay neared the pass of Killiecrankie. Instead of 
Fight of halting his men, and ordering the fresher 

Killiecrankie. troops to the front, he pushcd them on through 
the narrow defile, hoping to gain the broader valley at its 
other extremity before the Highlanders were aware of his 
approach. The greater part had got through the pass, 
and wearied and footsore had thrown themselves on the 
ground, when musket shots were heard. Mackay hastily 
formed his troops, and prepared as quickly as he could 
for battle. Dundee, however, gave him but little time for 
preparation. Putting himself at the head of his wild 
followers, he gave the order to charge. The Highlanders, 
throwing down their muskets and their plaids, and with 
their broadswords in their hands, with a loud shout sprang 
at the Southerners. Mackay's troops, tired, and with 
their cumbrous weapons of defence not yet made ready (for 
the muskets and bayonets of those days were not quickly 
loaded or fixed), began to waver. A few moments of 
struggle ensued, and then all was over. In a headlong 
flight they rushed down the pass, sweeping away with 
them their own cavalry and rearguard. For four-and- 
twenty hours the Highlanders pursued, and the dis- 
heartened fugitives found no rest until they bad reached 
Castle Drummond. 

J. j^ ^f Tn the hour of victory a chance shot struck 

Dundee and dowu Dundcc. His death caused the usual 
the^Highkn- bickerings among the chieftains, and their 
ders. dissensions were speedily followed by the dis- 

persion of their followers. The news of the death of 



1689. Ireland in 1689. ^59 

Dundee was received with delight in London, for it more 
than compensated for Mackay's defeat, and by the Scotch 
Cameronians it was regarded as a sure sign of the Divine 
approval of the cause of William, that tncir cruel per- 
secutor had been slain. 

William's Scotch ministers placed little confidence 
in Mackay ; but William judged otherwise, and, disregard- 
ing his first want of success, continued him in his com- 
mand. The insurgents still keeping the field were rapidly 
scattered. In the following spring Mackay 
built a strong fort in Invernessshire, called cautionsoT" 
Fort William, to serve as a depot of provi- Mackay. 
sions and a point cVappui for the regular troops, and 
he set about making roads along which military convoys 
could be moved. 

In order to ensure prompt action in Scotch matters, 
William nominated Sir John Dalrymple of Dairympie 
Stair, a man of great talent and industry, to a"'^ Melville 
be lord advocate, and attached to his own court Lord 
Melville, to advise him on Scotch matters. By these two 
men, who had William's entire confidence, Scotland was 
governed for some years. 

Section IV. — Ireland in 1689. 
Although the rapid success of the Revolution in Eng- 
land and Scotland surprised and disappointed Lewis XIV., 
he received some consolation in hearing of the resolute 
measures adopted by Tyrconnel to uphold the cause of 
James in Ireland. The life at St. Germains was a happy 
change for James. Treated with every mark of refined 
courtesy and respect, he was in no hurry to quit his 
palace for Ireland. But Tyrconnel sent him pressing 
messages. He reported that thousands were ready to 
fight for him, that they needed only his presence and 
a supply of arms to drive every Protestant and every 



i6o TJic Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d, 

adherent of the Prince of Orange into the sea. Lewis re- 
commended, and even pressed him to go. He 
Fral^ce for^^ told James that he would not furnish him with 
Ireland. soldiers, as he had a sufficient number in Ire- 

land, but that in every other respect he would do his utmost 
for him. He accordingly supplied James with the most 
costly outfit for his personal use ; he ordered the Count 
of Avaux, a distinguished noble of his court, to accom- 
pany him as ambassador to Ireland ; he gave him arms 
and ammunition for 10,000 men ; he provided him with 
100,000/. in money to pay his troops ; he commanded the 
Brest fleet to convey him and his suite to Kinsale. Lewis, 
moreover, ordered the Marshal von Rosen, with a large 
number of skilled officers under him, to join the fleet, and 
to place himself and staff at James's disposal, in order 
that the rough native Irish might under their training be 
reduced to discipline. Von Rosen, a Livonian soldier of 
fortune, of coarse brutal manners, but of long and varied 
service in war, was a man well fitted for his post. 

On March 12 James landed at Kinsale. Thence 
he marched to Cork, being received in all the towns 
with every mark of respect. At Cork he was joined 
by Tyrconnel, who brought him cheering news of the 
progress of his cause, and reported that, except in the 
North, William had no adherents under arms, and that 
Tames enters Londonderry and Enniskillen were the only 
Dublin. strong placcs that had declared for him. Tyr- 

connel told his master that these towns could not long hold 
out against the troops which, under General Hamilton, he 
had sent against them. On the 24th James entered 
Dublin amidst enthusiastic shouts of welcome. The 
streets through which he passed were spread with flowers 
and leaves of trees, and carpets and tapestry were hung 
from all the windows. 

Contrary to the advice of Von Rosen and Tyrconnel, 



1689. Ireland in 1689. 161 

James determined to join his army in the North. He 
thought that his presence would animate his troops, 
and would increase his popularity with jamessets 
the Irish. He beheved that Londonderry off to join 
would not stand a siege, and that it would 
make a strong impression on the conquered if he were 
there, as a victorious general, to share in the triumph of 
his arms. 

The position of the Protestants in Londonderry was 
becoming day by day more precarious. The town, en- 
closed by its crumbling walls, had already twice as many 
inmates as it had accommodation for. Its walls had no 
moat round them, and being built on gently London- 
rising ground, it was exposed to the fire of a derry. 
besieging force. The river Foyle ran past the town, and 
about two miles lower down were two forts, one on each 
bank, Grange Fort and Charles Fort, commanding the 
approach by water. 

On April 14, two vessels with troops arrived from 
England. Lundy, the governor of Londonderry, or- 
dered the officer in command not to disembark his men, 
for it was useless to attempt to hold the town, and the 
troops would only swell he number of prisoners. He 
had determined to play the traitor, and his council 
of war was accordingly a packed one. But Lundy, the 
the citizens of Derry got intelligence of fapes"froin^' 
what was going on, and looking from the walls the town, 
saw the English ships slowly floating down the river. In- 
spirited by the harangues of a clergyman, George Walker, 
one of those who had taken refuge in the town, they 
determined to defend to the last their Protestant city 
They vowed vengeance against the traitor Lundy, and 
had he not, aided by Walker, escaped, would have exe- 
cuted speedy justice on him. 

It was at this juncture that James appeared before the 

M.H. M 



1 62 The Fall of the Stuarts, &"€. a.d. 

city at the head of his army. He summoned the inhabit- 
ants to open their gates. His summons was met by a 
fire from the walls, amid cries of 'No surrender!' Walker, 
a divine of the true puritan type, assisted by Major Baker, 
took direction of the defence. All the able- 
derry be- bodied inhabitants, 7,000 in number, were en- 
sieged. rolled in the garrison. Although, by the 

permission of James, ten thousand of the Protestant re- 
fugees were allowed to leave Londonderry and return to 
their homes, 20,000 non-combatants were still left to em- 
barrass the defenders. The city had provisions for about 
twelve days, and its cannon numbered but twenty. The 
forces of the besiegers were between twenty-five and 
thirty thousand. On April 20 the siege began, and on 
the 29th, James, finding the siege likely to be more 
tedious than he expected, returned to Dublin, leaving the 
French general, Maumont, to conduct the operations. 
Soon after assuming the command, Maumont was killed 
in one of the numerous sorties of the garrison, and was 
succeeded by General Hamilton, who turned the siege 
into a blockade. 

Lewis ordered constant supplies of arms and other 
military stores to be forwarded to Ireland. Admiral 
Herbert, in command of the English fleet, heard that some 
of these, protected by a French fleet, were being landed 
in Bantry Bay. He sailed thither, and attacked the 
Battle- of French whilst they were at anchor. His force 

Bantry Bay. was inferior and he was compelled to retire. 
He ' came off with greate slaughter and little honour.' 
Both courts claimed the victory. At Dublin the Te Deum 
was sung, at Westminster the Commons passed a vote of 
thanks to Herbert. 

The Irish Parliament, convoked by James, met at 
Dublin May 7. It repealed the Act of Settlement ; 
consequently English or Anglo- Irish landlords would be 



1689. Ireland in i6%^. 163 

replaced by Celtic ones. It passed an act vesting in 
King James the property of absentees. By , .^^^ 

another act the tithes were conveyed from the Parliament 
Protestant to the Roman Catholic clergy. The '"^^ ^" 
legislative independence of Ireland was asserted in 
another act. But in the Act of Attainder the Parha- 
ment showed most conspicuously its want of wisdom. 
The act mentioned by name some 2,500 per- ^^^ ^^ ^^_ 
sons, and ordered them to surrender themselves tainder 



passed. 



before a certain day, and if they failed to do 
so, sentenced them, untried, to be hanged, drawn, and 
quartered, and their property to be confiscated. The 
list included the names of half the Irish peerage, of the 
wealthiest merchants and farmers, of the Protestant clergy, 
and most of the English settlers. The act was virtually 
a declaration of war to the knife against the English and 
the Protestants of the North of Ireland. 

Before the prorogation of the Dublin Parliament, the 
persecution of the Protestants began. The Protestant 
fellows of Trinity College were ejected from 
their fellowships. Protestant clergy were ofProtes- 
forcibly driven from their livings. The arms ^^"^^• 
of all Protestants were seized. Avaux, the French am- 
bassador, proposed a general massacre of Protestants, 
prompted, it is thought, by his sovereign, Lewis ; but to 
this James would not consent. 

The Irish exchequer, although liberally aided by 
Lewis, was empty. To replenish it James resorted to the 
device of debasing the coinage, and trades- coinage de- 
men refusing to accept the spurious coin based. 
were threatened with a visit from the provost-marshal. 

Meanwhile the blockade of Derry dragged on its tedi- 
ous length. The defenders were reduced to great extremi- 
ties from the scarcity of provisions. The besiegers had 
captured Forts Charles and Grange, and between these 



1 64 TJie Fall of the Stuarts ^ &c. a.D. 

two forts had stretched a strong boom of fir-trees, at the 
narrowest part of the Foyle, so as to prevent 

London- ^ ,. / . , ^ 

derrv still ships ascendmg to the rehef of the town. An 
blockaded. Enghsh fleet arrived in Lough Foyle, on June 
15, having on board Colonel Kirke, troops, arms, am- 
munition, and provisions. But no attempt was made to 
force the boom, and Kirke lay, for weeks, inactive in the 
Lough, whilst the defenders of Derry were starving. \orv 
Rosen now succeeded Hamilton in the conduct of the 
siege. In order to increase the difficulties of the be- 
sieged, he collected the Protestants from the surrounding 
district, drove them under the walls, and left them there 
to starve, for the garrison dared not add to their distress 
by admitting more mouths into the town. Walker, in re- 
taliation, threatened to hang all the prisoners taken. For 
three days, the crowd, almost mad with hunger and dis- 
ease, wandered round the city ; at the end of that time 
Von Rosen allowed the survivors to withdraw. 

But still the defenders held out, and still Kirke re- 
mained at anchor in Lough Foyle. Although each man's 
allowance of provisions was reduced to the lowest point 
at which life could be sustained, yet on July 30 supply 
for two days only remained. Not more than three 
thousand of the garrison were able to stand to their 
arms, for famine had brought its companion, fever ; but 
no one breathed the word surrender. 

In England the news of the heroic defence had raised 
the strongest feelings of pity. London was bound by 
English the closest ties to the Protestant city of the 

sympatfiy. jyj oxXh. The nam€ Londonderry implies this. 
Many of the great city companies held, and still hold, 
large property there. The 'prodigious sloth of our fleet' 
excited indignation, and peremptory orders were sent to 
Kirke to relieve the city. 

Anion o'st the merchantmen attached to Kirke's fleet 




CAMPAIGN m NORTM-EAST OF JREL 



1 66 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

was the Mountjoy, commanded by one Browning, a 
native of Derry. Browning volunteered to make an at- 
tempt to break the boom, and persuaded another merchant 
captain to risk his ship also. Kirke ordered 
derry°"' a frigate to accompany them, and to silence 

relieved, ^^ ^j.g Qf ^^ ioxXs and covcr the merchant- 

men. The two ships, side by side, with all sails set, 
favoured by a strong wind, were steered straight at the 
boom. The mass of timber first swayed, then cracked, 
then gave way, and the two ships were carried through 
on the rising tide, and Londonderry was saved. The 
gallant Browning was killed by a shot from 
blockade Fort Charlcs as his ship was breaking the 

raised. boom. On July 30 each fighting man of 

Derry had received half a pound of tallow and three 
quarters of a pound of salted hide; on the 31st, the ra- 
tions served out to each one of the garrison were two 
pounds of beef and three pounds of flour. 

On August I Von Rosen raised the siege, which had 
now lasted 105 days, and with his troops retreated 
towards Strabane. 

Enniskillen was more fortunate than Londonderry ; 
it was situated on an island, in the river joining the 
upper and lower parts of Lough Erne, and therefore could 
not be invested. Nevertheless the inhabitants were in 
great peril, for 5,000 Irish were marching against them. 
On July 29 they received from Kirke timely aid, consisting 
of arms and ammunition, and a few experienced officers, 
at whose head was Colonel Wolseley. Wolseley at once 
determined, with all the forces he could muster, 3,000 
only, to strike the first blow, and attack the Irish. He 
met them at the village of Newtown Butler, 
N!;\vu>wn and gained a decisive victory over them, the 
Butler. gentlemen and yeomen composing his forces 

behaving with the greatest gallantry. On the same day 



1690. The Grand A lliance, 1 6/ 

on which Browning broke through the boom that blocked 
the passage of the Foyle, the Irish army that was to de- 
stroy the Protestants of Enniskillen was in rapid flight, 
leaving 1,500 killed on the field, and in the hands of the 
victors 400 prisoners, and all their cannon and ammuni- 
tion. Making the best of their way to the North, the fu- 
gitives, on July 31, met_, near Strabane, the army of 
Hamilton retreating from Londonderry. The news of the 
defeat at Newtown Butler spread dismay through Hamil- 
ton's force, already dispirited. Thinking that they were 
about to be attacked on both front and rear, their retreat 
soon changed into a flight. Each town, as they passed 
through it, was evacuated by its garrison, and was soon 
after occupied by Kirke's troops, so that in a few days the 
North of Ireland was again freed from James's soldiers. 

Section V. — The Grand Alliance^ and Ca7npaign on 
the Continent in 1689. 

The interference of Lewis in Ireland on behalf of 
James caused William to mature his plans for a great 
Continental confederacy against France. On May 12, 
1689, William, as Stadtholder of the United Pro- 
vinces, had entered into an offensive and defensive alli- 
ance with the Emperor against Lewis. On May 17, 
as King of England, he declared war against France ; 
and on December 30 joined the alliance between the 
Emperor and the Dutch. His example was followed 
on June 6, 1690, by the King of Spain, and on Octo- 
ber 20 of the same year, by Victor Amadeus, Duke 
of Savoy. This confederation was called the ' Gf-and 
Alliance.^ Its main object was declared to be, to curb 
the power and ambition of Lewis XIV. ; to force him 
to surrender his conquests, and to confine his terri- 
tories to the limits agreed upon between him and the 
Emperor at the treaty of Westphalia (1648), and between 



1 68 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.D. 

France and Spain at the treaty of the Pyrenees (1659). 
The league of Augsburg, which Wilham had with so much 
trouble brought about, had now successfully developed 
into the Grand Alliance. . 

The campaign of 1689 between Lewis and the 
Emperor was marked by little of importance. 

The Emperor, although engaged on his eastern fron- 
„ . , tier with the Turks, managed nevertheless 

Campaign of 

1689 in to bring an army of 80,000 mto the field. 

ermany. Levvis placed One army in position on the 
Rhine, another in the Netherlands, and a third on the 
Spanish frontier. The general result was somewhat 
favourable to the allies, for the Emperor's troops recap- 
tured Mainz and Bonn, and the French in the Netherlands 
suffered defeat. But Lewis and Louvois had formed a 
plan which they hoped would break up the alliance. 
This was to obtain command of the Channel, and thus 
to secure the maritime supremacy of Europe. 
parations All through, therefore, the winter of 1689, and 
o ewis. ^^^ early part of 1 690, the dockyards of France 
were busied in building and equipping ships, and every 
French man-of-war in the Mediterranean was brought 
round to Brest. 



CHAPTER XV. 

WILLIAM III. AND IRELAND. 

Section L — The English Parliament in 1690. 

On the dissolution of Parliament in January 1690, the 
The new writs for a new Parliament, the second of 

Parliament. William and Mary, were at once issued. 
The Tories were placed by the elections in a decided 
majority. But this result did not prove that the prin- 
ciples of the Revolution were unacceptable to the 



1690. TJie English Parliament in 1690. 169 

nation. It showed that the attempt made in the late 
Parhament by the Whigs to exclude from rp 
office the Tories who had, in their several majority, 
boroughs, assisted James in remodelling the corpora- 
tions, was regarded by moderate men with disfavour, as 
being illiberal and revengeful. ' The attempted exclusion 
provoked also/ says Burnet, ' all those whom it was to 
have disgraced.' 

The first duty of the new Parliament, which met in 
March, was to consider the revenue. The late Parlia- 
ment had granted to the Crown money for immediate 
necessities. It was requisite that the present Parliament 
should come to some definite settlement. The hereditary 
revenue of the Crown, which had passed into the possession 
of William and Mary, produced annually from 400,000/. 
to 500,000/. In the reigns of Charles and James, the 
excise and customs duties had in addition been voted 
for life to the sovereign. These duties were supposed to 
produce annually about 900,000/. William r^^^^ q— j 
hoped, and believed, that these would be settled List. 
on him and his queen, as had been done before. But the 
Parliament considered that its too great generosity in for- 
mer days had made the Crown more independent of Parlia- 
ment than was conducive to the public liberty. William 
was much hurt. He said that he 'who had preserved the 
religion and laws of England was less trusted by English- 
men than they who tried their best to destroy them.' His 
remonstrances were, however, not entirely without avail. 
The excise duties, estimated to produce about 300,000/. a 
year, were settled on William and Mary for their lives, 
and these, added to the hereditary revenue, formed the 
' Civil List' The customs duties, yielding about 600,000/. 
a year, were granted to the Crown for four years only. 
The Civil List provided for the support of the royal 
household, the personal expenses of the king and queen, 
and the payment of civil offices and pensions. 



I/O TJie Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d 

The Parliament again acknowledged William and 
Mary as joint king and queen, affirmed the legality of 
the measures of the late Parliament, and provided that 
William, whilst in England, should have the sole adminis- 
tration of the government, but that when he was absent 
Mary should rule. 

The Whigs introduced into both Houses in succession 
a Bill of Abjuration, the object of which was to deprive of 
Bin of office of every kind all persons who did not 

Abjuration solemnly abjure James as king. The first bill, 

thrown out , . , . . , 

by both drawn up with extreme severity, was rejected 

Houses. -j^y ^^ Commons. The second bill, which 

was less stringent, was introduced into the Lords, and 
was warmly supported by Shrewsbury, William's Whig 
minister, whilst Danby, the Tory minister, who had been 
raised to the marquisate of Carmarthen, was as strenuous 
in opposing it. The Marquis of Carmarthen succeeded 
in getting it thrown out. 

On the rejection of these bills, William himself drew 
up an Act of Grace, which was a full pardon and indemnity 
Act of Grace ^*^'' ^ political offenders. It was presented to 
passed. both Houses, and was passed by both Houses 

without one dissentient voice. By this act William 
trusted to set at rest political animosities, and to be able 
to prorogue Parliament, so that he might be set free to 
proceed at once to Ireland, in order to drive James and the 
French out of the island. But Shrewsbury was incensed 
with William for thus, as he thought, truckling to the 
Tories. He was a man of morbid sensitiveness; his 
pride was wounded, and he resolved to resign. The 
king was disinclined thus to part with one of the ' seven 
Shrewsbury patriots,' and personally solicited him to con- 
turns traitor, tinue in office. Shrewsbury vacillated, but at 
length came to his final determination and resigned. When 
he first thought himself no longer trusted by William, 



1690. The Victory of the Boyne. lyi 

he at once made overtures to James; these overtures 
were accepted, and the resignation of his seal of office 
marked his adhesion to the Jacobite cause. 

Hahfax, the treasurer, had also resigned office, so 
Carmarthen (Danby) and Nottingham, who Halifax 
were both Tories, were William's sole remain- resigns. 
ing ministers. Thus the attempt of William to conciliate 
all parties by a coalition ministry proved unsuccessful. 
But he still determined to show that he did not consider 
himself the king of a party. Having prorogued Parlia- 
ment on May 20, and made preparations for his 
Irish campaign, William, before his departure, chose a 
council of nine privy councillors to assist Mary. Of these 
four were Whigs, the remaining five, among whom were 
Carmarthen, Nottingham, and Churchill (now Earl of 
Marlborough) were Tories. 

Section II. — T/:e Victory of the Boyne. 

Marshal Schomberg landed at Belfast in the autumn 
of 1689, soon after the victory of Newtown Butler, with 
an army of 10,000 men. Thence he marched Schomberg 
to Carrickfergus, and being joined by the arrives in 

^„ . ^ ... 1- 11. Ireland, and 

Protestants of Enniskillen, directed his move- forms a camp 
ments towards Dublin, in hopes of striking ^^ Dundaik. 
a decisive blow before the winter set in. James's 
forces were collected at Drogheda, to the number of 
20,000. On reaching Dundalk, Schomberg found that 
his men, for the most part raw English peasants, 
hastily recruited, not only stood in need of additional 
drilling, but were besides fatigued by their marches, 
and half-starved by the shortcomings of the commis- 
sariat service. He therefore resolved to halt near 
Dundalk, form an entrenched camp, and devote his 
own time and that of his officers to teaching his 



1/2 The Fail of the Stuarts, &€. a.D. 

musketeers how to load and fire, and his cavalry how to 
ride. James, having joined his troops at Drogheda, 
marched to within a few miles of Schomberg's camp, as 
if to attack it. Von Rosen, however, recommended more 
prudent measures, and James withdrew his army. 

Schomberg's troops, supplied with bad food and 
suffering from the constant rain, fell easy victims to fever, 
Sufferings of ^^^^7 ^^^ dysentery. In eveiy regiment the 
the English, sick outnumbered those who were fit for 
duty. Treachery, also, was suspected. Colonel Shales, 
formerly commissary-general to King James, was the 
officer at the head of the commissariat. It was said 
that the peculations of his subordinates, in which he 
shared, were carried on not merely to enrich themselves, 
but to ruin the army. Shales was eventually dismissed 
the service, in consequence of the House of Commons 
presenting an address against him. 

In November James sent his troops into winter quar- 
_, , . ters. Schomberg immediately broke up his 

Both armies ° . ■' '• , 

in winter camp, scnt the sick on board ship, or into 

quarters. hospital at Belfast, and dispersed the troops 

still fit for service amongst the towns and villages of 
Ulster. 

Early in the spring of 1690 William sent reinforce- 
ments to Schomberg, not, as last year, English peasant 
„,.„. lads, but sturdy Dutch and Danish soldiers, 

arrives in scasoncd m many campaigns. With these 
'^^ ^" ■ arrived a body of exiled French Huguenots, 

and a few picked English regiments. They all assembled 
a.t Belfast, and thither followed William, leaving Lon- 
don on June 4, and arriving at Belfast on the 14th. 
Schomberg was ordered to rendezvous with his troops at 
Loughbrickland, a small town on the Lough of Brickland, 
lying a mile or two to the eastward of the high road run- 
ning from Lisburn to Newry and Dundalk. 



1690. William arrives in Ireland, 173 

James had sent urgent appeals to Lewis for reinforce- 
ments, dwelling much on the uselessness of his Irish 
troops. Lewis promised to exchange French soldiers for 
Irish ones, at the rate of two Frenchmen for Lauzun sent 
everv Irishman, and on the arrival at Brest of by Lewis 

■' , with re- 

4,000 ragged, but strong, Irish, there were inforcements 
sent to Dublin 8,000 good French soldiers, fo"^ James, 
under the command of the Count of Lauzun. Lauzun was 
placed in command at the special request of James and 
his queen, with whom he was in high favour, but he was 
a drawing-room soldier, who shone more at Versailles 
than on the battle-field. James and Lauzun had almost 
reached Dundalk, when they heard of William's arrival 
in Ireland. 

When William reached his army he found that it 
had been joined by the volunteers from Enniskillen and 
Londonderry, and was thus raised to 36,000 
men. With the men of Derry marched made Bishop 
Walker, the clerical defender of the city. ° ^'"^' 
The bishopric of Derry had just fallen vacant, and 
William's first act was to appoint Walker to the see. 
But neither episcopal ease nor episcopal zeal tempted 
him to leave his * prentice boys.' 

James's army numbered about 27,000. On hearing the 
strength of William he resolved to fall back james takes 
until he could form his troops on ground up a position. 
where natural advantages should counterbalance their 
inferiority in numbers. He therefore withdrew towards 
Drogheda, and crossed the river Boyne at the ford at Old 
Bridge. Here he drew up his army on the south side of 
the river, with Drogheda, garrisoned by Irish, a few miles 
to his right, and to his left the bridge at Slane, guarded 
by a strong body of his cavalry under O'Neil. 

On June 30 William came in sight of the com- 
bined Irish and French army on the other side of the 



T 74 TJie Fall of the Stuarts^ &c. a.D. 

Boyne. He could not restrain his delight at coming up 
with them. ' Gentlemen, I am glad to see you/ he ex- 
^„.... claimed ; adding, ' It is my fault if you escape 

comes up me now.' He at once rode forward to re- 
wit James. cQunoitre the position of James's army. While 
he was thus engaged he was observed by the enemy, and 
two field-pieces were brought up to open fire upon him 
and his staff. The first shot of each took effect, the one 
killing the horse of Prince George of Hesse and bringing 
its rider to the ground, and the other wounding William 
in the shoulder. The wound fortunately was a slight one, 
but for a moment dismay spread through his staff. After 
the wound was dressed, the indomitable spirit of William 
enabled him again to mount his charger. On that day 
he was for nineteen consecutive hours on horseback. 

On the following morning, July i, William gave his 
final orders. The right wing, under a son of Schom- 
Battieofthe ^^^?j ^^^ ^^ cross the bridge at Slane, 
Boyne. and, after driving away O'Neil's dragoons, to 

turn the left flank of James's army. William's left wing, 
composed entirely of cavalry, under his own immediate 
command, was to cross nearer Drogheda and operate on 
the right flank of the enemy. The centre, all infantry, 
led by Schomberg, was to force the passage of the Boyne. 

Lauzun saw at once that if their left flank was turned, 
retreat, if it should be necessary to retreat, was impossible. 
He therefore moved the French contingent, the most 
trustworthy part of the army, to reinforce O'Neil on the 
left. Schomberg's son had already crossed the bridge at 
Slane, and pushed back the dragoons, but by the arrival 
of the French he was held at bay at the pass of Duleek. 
The Irish alone were left to form the centre of James's 
army. The Dutch alHes, and French refugees and Irish 
Protestants, under Schomberg, wading up to their armpits, 
forced the river, and made good their footing on the 



1690. The Victory of tJic Boyne. 1 7 5 

other side. No sooner did the Irish infantry see this, 
than they turned and fled. The Irish cavalry, under 
Hamilton, came to the rescue and pressed back the 
alhed troops. Schomberg urged his horse through the 
river to rally his wavering troops. ' Voila vos perse- 
cuteurs !' he shouted to the retreating French Huguenots, 
who rallied and came again to the attack. At this 
critical moment the brave old marshal was struck 
dead from his horse, and Bishop Walker received his 
death wound. Wilham, however, having made good his 
passage of the river, formed up his cavalry, and then put- 
ting himself at their head, wheeled to the right, and came 
down on the right flank of the Irish horse. These latter, 
pressed in their turn by this fresh body of troops, gave 
way. The allied infantry re-formed their ranks, and 
began again to advance. In a few minutes James's army 
was in full retreat. Fortunately for James the French 
held firm the pass of Duleek, and then formed in the rear, 
and covered the flying army. Had it not been for the 
foresight of Lauzun, the slaughter of the fugitives would 
have been immense. As it was, the loss of the Irish was 
estimated at 1,500, that of William's allied troops at 500 
only. 

James, when he saw the day was lost, galloped off to 
Dublin with all haste, and made preparation for his 
immediate return to France. 

When William was told of Schomberg's death his 
grief was great, and his usually phlegmatic nature was 
deeply moved. But when he was told that Bishop Walker 
also had met with his death at the passage of the Boyne, 
' What took him there ? ' said he. His remark to Burnet, 
at the landing at Torbay, was to the same purport. He 
thought divines should keep to their studies and their 
pulpits, and not interfere^ with soldiers or statesmen. 

The slight wound received by William on the day 



I 'j6 TJic Fall of the Stuarts , &c. a.D. 

before the battle had been reported at Versailles as fatal. 
Great was the consequent rejoicing. The bells of Notre 
Dame at Paris, rung only on the most important occasions, 
now pealed forth their notes of triumph. On July 5 a 
letter arrived from James, dated from Brest, announcing 
his safe arrival there, and the defeat he had sustained. 
The reaction caused by this bad news, coming after the 
good news, increased James's unpopularity at the court of 
Lewis. In London, on the other hand, the intelligence 
of the victory at the Boyne caused the greatest enthusiasm. 
London, indeed, stood in need of consolation. Since 
William's departure for Ireland a great blow had fallen. 
The French had obtained the command of the Channel. 

Section III. — Herbert, Lord To7'rington. 

The work of the French dockyards had produced 
great results. A magnificent fleet, well equipped, con- 
sisting of no less than seventy-eight ships of the line, 
besides frigates and smaller vessels, and carrying in all 
4,702 guns, put to sea under the command of the Count of 
Tourville. The combined English and Dutch fleet, under 
Admiral Herbert (now raised to the peerage as Lord 
Torrington), mustered only fifty-six ships of the line, mount- 
ing 3,462 guns. Torrington, cruising to the south-west 
of the Isle of Wight, sighted Tourville's fleet off the 
Needles, and at once made for the straits of Dover. The 
queen sent down from London to the coast 

Defeat off ^ . ^. • j • 

Beachy messengers to intercept 1 ornngton, and give 

Head. j^|j^-^ imperative orders to engage. The mes- 

sage reached him when his fleet was off Beachy Head. 
With reluctance he obeyed, and formed in order of battle. 
He placed the Dutch under Admiral Evertsen, a brave 
and skilful seaman, in the van, and gave the signal to 
engage. The Dutch fought bravely, but were coldly 
supported by the English. At length Evertsen unwillingly 



1690. To7'rington Defeated. 177 

withdrew from the contest, leaving one of his ships as 
a prize to the French. Torrington, taking in tow those of 
his vessels which were damaged, made with all haste for 
the Thames. It was fortunate indeed for England that 
Tourville did not follow up his victory with energy. If 
he had done so, the 30th of June would have been a 
day long to be mournfully remembered by Englishmen. 
Tourville, instead of pursuing Torrington, sailed west- 
wards, burned Teignmouth in Devonshire, and then 
waited in daily expectation of a rising in England in 
James's favour which should warrant his more active 
interference. 

It is doubtful if any victory of the' English arms would 
have done more to strengthen William's cause than the 
defeat off Beachy Head. English sailors were fondly 
supposed to be invincible, and it was at once asserted 
that their defeat was due to treachery. Public opinion 
declared that Torrington was a traitor. The Londoners 
now became alarmed for the safety of their city, and their 
fear increased their hatred for the French, and for the 
cause favoured by the French king. It was at this 
moment that the news reached London of change of 
William's victory at the Boyne. Mary had favoufj" 
from the first been almost idolised by those William. 
brought into contact with her. Her popularity was now 
shared by her husband. 

Torrington was sent to the Tower, and in the following 
December tried by court-martial, for having, ' through 
treachery or cowardice, misbehaved in his office, drawn 
dishonour on the British nation, and sacrificed our good 
allies the Dutch.' He and his friends declared Torrington 
he was being made a victim to the resentment dismissed. 
of the Dutch, who had been destroyed by their own rash- 
ness. The idea that an Englishman was being sacrificed 
to Dutch interests caused a reaction in public feeling. 



178 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c, a.D. 

The result of the trial was a verdict of not guilty, and the 
populace hailed the verdict with joy, although, five months 
previously, Torrington's name was never uttered without 
an evil epithet attached to it. Notwithstanding the 
verdict William dismissed him from the service. 

Section IV. — William leaves Ireland. 
James's army, flying from the Boyne, reached Dublin. 
Lauzun agreed with Tyrconnel, whom James had nomi- 
nated his lord-lieutenant, that it was impossible to make 
a stand for the defence of the capital, so dispirited were 
the soldiers. They therefore rapidly withdrew their 
troops and marched towards the west. On July 6 
,„.„. William entered Dublin, and returned thanks 

William - ,. . •r>.T->-i,^-ii-i 

enters lor his victory m St. Patricks Cathedral. 

Dublin. j^ ^^g Qj^ ^j^jg ^^y ^j^^^ William heard 

of the French victory off Beachy Head. He at once 
came to the conclusion that it was absolutely necessary 
to secure Waterford, the finest harbour in the south-east 
of Ireland, and a more secure anchorage for his trans- 
ports than the bay of Dublin. 

On July 21 William appeared before Waterford, 
and it immediately surrendered. He now prepared to 
Waterford leave Ireland for England. As he approached 
falls. Dublin he heard that Tourville, after burn- 

ing Teignmouth, had returned to France, and that 
the appearance of a French fleet in the Thames was no 
longer to be dreaded. He therefore rejoined his force 
near Cashel, who were following the still retreating army 
of James. 

The Irish army had reached Limerick, and here some 
proposed to make a stand. But Lauzun and Tyrconnel 
both held that Limerick could not be de- 
fended, that ' its battlements might be battered 
down with roasted apples,' and that the army, by remain- 



1690. William leaves Ireland. 179 

ing there, would be sure to fall an easy prey to William. 
But the Irish wished for an opportunity to retrieve their 
character, and Patrick Sarsfield stood forth Patrick 
as an exponent of their views. Sarsfield. 

Sarsfield had formerly held a commission in the 
English life-guards, had seen much service abroad, 
and had, with his regiment, fought against Monmouth at 
Sedgemoor. He represented the county of Dublin in the 
Irish Parliament. He was handsome, of high stature 
and great strength, brave, generous, talented, and every- 
where popular. Descended from one of the early English 
colonists, his family had often intermarried with the 
native Irish, and Sarsfield himself had become one of 
those called ^ Hibernis Hiberniores' (more Irish than the 
Irish). 

Sarsfield pointed out the strong advantages of de- 
fence offered by Limerick. He expatiated on the 
natural strength of the city, the greater part of which 
stood on an island in the Shannon, with only one bridge 
connecting it with the mainland, the river itself _ . 

. Limerick 

bemg held by a French squadron. The result defended by 
of the deliberations was that Lauzun and ^^^ ^"^'^• 
Tyrconnel, with the French, retired northwards to Gal- 
way, leaving the Irish army of 20,000 to defend Limerick. 
On August 9 William arrived before the city, and 
pitched his camp on the left bank of the Shannon. His 
heavy artillery had not yet come up. On the loth Sars- 
field, at the head of 500 cavalry, left Limerick by the right 
bank of the river, to reconnoitre. Intelligence was 
brought him of the whereabouts of William's artillery 
train. Crossing the Shannon at Killaloe, he William's 
came down on it as it was parked for the artillery 

■* destroyed by 

night, put to flight the escort, blew up the Sarsfield. 
powder, buried or burst the guns and was safe back in 
Limerick before the morning. 



l8o The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

A regular siege was now out of the question, so William 
rapidly pushed forward the trenches in order to carry the 
place by assault. Rain fell without intermission. The 
English and Dutch soldiers, working in water up to their 
knees, began to suffer from dysentery. The commissariat, 
as usual, was deficient. From the 17th to the 27th the 
progress made by the besiegers was slow, and on the 
latter day it was determined to try the effect of an assault. 
Desperate fighting took place for four hours, and in the 
,„ end the assailants were repulsed. Although 

William fails 

before the English had entered that part of the town 

Limerick. which lay on the left bank of the river, they 
were unable to make good their footing, and were driven 
slowly back to their camp. On the night of the 27th rain 
fell heavier than ever. The English camp became a 
swamp. The light field-guns and the commissariat wag- 
gons began to sink into the treacherous soil. On the 
29th a council of war was held, and William reluctantly 
gave orders to raise the siege. 

The king started immediately for Waterford, and sailed 
thence for England, landing at Bristol on September 6. 

Section V. — Marlborough in Ireland. 

When Tourville was threatening the southern coast, 
troops under the command of Lord Marlborough had 
been despatched to garrison Portsmouth. All danger 
from the French having passed away, Marlborough pro- 
posed to Queen Mary to send the troops to the south of 
Ireland, to reduce Cork and Kinsale. Mary laid the 
plans before the council of nine. The council was 

divided as to the expediency of the enterprise. 
borough William, who was in Ireland, was appealed 

Ireland *°' ^'^^ approved, ordcringMarlborough, who 

had proposed the scheme, to command the 
expedition. On September 22 the force, consisting of 



169a MarlborotLo;h in Ireland. i8l 



"^ 



5,000 men, disembarked near Cork, and was joined by- 
some of the Dutch troops under the Duke of Wiirtem- 
berg, who had been engaged in the siege of Limerick. 

After a siege of forty-eight hours Cork capitulated. In 
a few hours afterwards the Enghsh cavalry appeared be- 
fore Kinsale, and summoned the garrison to surrender. 
The Irish replied by setting fire to the town, and then re- 
tired to two forts, called the Old and New cork and 
Forts. The English put out the fire with difH- Kmsaie fall, 
culty. Marlborough, on coming up with the rest of his 
forces, attacked the Old Fort with scaling ladders, and 
captured or killed all its garrison. The New Fort, after 
being besieged for six days, capitulated on terms, and 
its garrison was allowed to retire to Limerick. 

The climate now began to affect Marlborough's troops, 
and it was determined that all William's troops in Ireland 
should go into winter quarters. On November i Marl- 
borough presented himself to William at Kensington, and 
was most graciously received by him. 

William now held the provinces of Ulster and Leinster, 
and Enniskillen, Londonderry, Belfast, Dundalk, Drog- 
heda, Dublin, Waterford, Cork, and Kinsale were gar- 
risoned by his troops. 

Section VI. — Campaign in the Netherlands. 

Contrary to the wishes of his minister, Louvois, Lewis 
had given the command of the French army in the 
Netherlands to the Duke of Luxembourg. Luxembourg, 
a bitter enemy of Louvois, was a bold and ^ 

•' ' Luxembourg 

original general, rapid in his movements, and and Wai- 
sometimes even rash. The Prince of Wal- ^^ ' 
deck, who carried on war according- to the rules of the 
tacticians, commanded the Imperialists. 

Waldeck had taken up a strong position behind the 
Sambre, to the eastward of Namur. Luxembourg forced 



1 82 The Fall of the Stuarts^ $fc, A.D. 

the passage of the Sambre, attacked Waldeck at Fleurus, 

and defeated him in a decisive battle on June 30, the 

same day which witnessed the Enghsh defeat 

French ^ 

victorious at off Beachy Head. Waldeck lost 5,000 killed, 
Heurus. 8,ooo prisoners, 50 pieces of artillery, and 

more than 100 standards. The standards were sent to 
Notre Dame, and the wits of Paris dubbed Luxembourg 
' le tapissier de Notre Dame' (the upholsterer of Notre 
Dame). 

Luxembourg wished to follow up his victory by attack- 
ing either Namur or Charleroi; but Louvois had sufficient 
influence with Lewis to stop him in his victorious path, 
and he was ordered to remain inactive. 

Another French general, Catinat (the first instance in 
France of a man rising to that rank who was not of the 
order of the nobility), was also victorious in Savoy over 
the troops of Victor Amadeus. 



CHAPTER XVL 
Pacification of Ireland and Scotland. 

Section L — Ireland — Limerick. 

In the spring of 1691 Tyrconnel returned to Ireland as 
lord-lieutenant of James. He landed at Limerick, and 
was soon afterwards joined by St. Ruth, a French general, 
whose reputation in that capacity was based 
chiefly on his success in the ' Dragonnades.' 
St, Ruth was supposed to understand and appreciate the 
Irish character, because the Irish regiments in the French 
service had been under his command. He set to work to 
reorganise the forces placed at his disposal, but was 
bitterly disappointed with their progress. Added to this, 
he found that Sarsfield was the favourite of the soldiery, 



1691. Ireland — Limerick. 183 

so that both St. Ruth and Tyrconnel, jealous of Sarsfield's 
influence, made a point of employing as little as possible 
the best officer Ireland possessed. St. Ruth 

On June i, St. Ruth thought his forces ^^^d'fOT 
drilled sufficiently to take the field. James. 

Ginkell, an experienced Dutch officer, had been 
placed by William in command of the Eng- Ginkell com- 
lish and the allied Dutch troops. lish, 

St. Ruth had placed a strong garrison in Athlone, a 
town on the Shannon about 70 miles north of Limerick. 
Ginkell had concentrated his forces at Mullingar, in 
Westmeath, 25 miles due east of Athlone. ^j^^ marches 
On the '/th he captured Ballymore and its to Athlone. 
garrison. Having strengthened the fortifications, he left 
a garrison there, so that it might serve as a place to fall 
back upon in case of reverse. On June 19 he appeared 
before Athlone. 

The town of Athlone was divided by the Shannon into 
two parts. On the right bank was the Celtic town, com- 
manded by an old castle. On the left bank had been the 
English town ; but this now lay in a heap of Athlone cap- 
ruins, having been burnt by the Irish. The tured. 
two banks of the river were connected by a bridge, and 
this bridge also was commanded by the castle. About 
600 yards below the bridge was a deep and dangerous 
ford, covered by earthworks on the Irish or right bank. 
After a few hours' fighting, Ginkell gained possession of 
what remained of the English town, and on June 21 be- 
gan to erect batteries. He began the bombardment on 
the next day, and in a short time the Irish town was in 
ruins, and the castle much damaged. But St. Ruth had 
encamped with his army outside Athlone to support the 
garrison, and the English could not cross the bridge, which 
was stoutly held by thelrish. So matters continued until the 
30th, when a council of war was called together by Ginkell. 



1 84 



The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. 



AD. 




169L Ireland. 185 

Bearing in mind the successful passage of the Boyne, the 
council resolved, while making a feint of forcing the bridge, 
to attempt to cross the Shannon by the ford, and so 
carry the covering earthworks with a rush. The bold 
idea was carried out, and was successful. With a loss of 
only 12 killed and 30 wounded, the English crossed the 
river, and took in rear the defenders of the bridge. A 
crowd of fugitives, rushing pell-mell into his camp, brought 
to St. Ruth the intelligence that the town had fallen. De- 
jected and disgusted, he rapidly struck his tents and re- 
treated westward towards Galway. 

St. Ruth, in order to retrieve his character as a general, 
determined, contrary to the advice of Sars- battle of 
field, to risk a general engagement. He knew Aughrim. 
that he should incur the displeasure of Lewis, when the 
latter learnt that he had led a relieving army to the walls 
of Athlone, and had then retreated without striking a blow 
to aid the garrison. He knew also that his troops could not 
be rehed on, but at the same time he did what skill could 
do to counteract their unsteadiness. He therefore chose 
a strong position at Aughrim which could be strengthened 
artificially. He drew up his men on the slope of a hill, at 
the foot of which was a marsh. He further strengthened 
his front by erecting breastworks, from behind which his 
men could fire on the enemy as they struggled through 
the boggy ground to the attack. On July 1 1 Ginkell had 
marched to Ballinasloe, four miles westward of Aughrim. 
On the 1 2th the English and Dutch attacked the Irish. 
For two hours they could make no impression ; ' the 
action was very hot, for the Irish disputed the matter 
obstinately.' At length, on the extreme of the English 
right, a squadron of the Blues found somewhat firmer 
ground, and successfully crossed the morass. Laying 
down hurdles, they formed a road along which the whole 
of the English cavalry moved. As soon as they had 



1 86 The Fall of the Stuarts, dfc. a.D 

passed the bog, the cavalry formed, wheeled to the left, 
and charged the Irish on their flank. At this critical mo- 
ment, St. Ruth was killed. The Irish began to give way. 
Sarsfield, who commanded the reserve, remained inactive, 
for he had been ordered by St. Ruth not to advance un- 
less he received direct orders to do so from him. St. Ruth 
being dead, no orders were given, and the Irish, pressed 
by the English infantry (who again and again came to the 
attack in their front), as well as by the cavalry on their 
flank, finally broke and fled. In the pursuit which fol- 
lowed, few prisoners were taken, but many hundred fugi- 
tives were slain. The cannon and baggage of the Irish fell 
into the hands of the victors. Sarsfield drew off a few regi- 
ments and reached Galway. The Irish lost, out of a force 
of 28,600, no less than 7,000 killed and 400 prisoners. 
Ginkell's army of 20,000 had 600 killed and 1,000 wounded. 

Galway capitulated as soon as Ginkell appeared be- 
Galway sur- ^°^^ ^^' °^ Condition that its garrison should 
renders. be allowed to withdraw to Limerick. In 

Limerick, then, all those bearing arms for James were 
assembled. 

Tyrconnel himself made every preparation for the de- 
Death of fence of the city. Before, however, the army 
Tyrconnel. of William appeared, a fit of apoplexy carried 
off the man who was most feared and hated by the Pro- 
testants of Ireland. 

Ginkell began the bombardment of Limerick on Au- 
gust 12. When William was foiled, a French squadron 
commanded the Shannon ; now, however, the river was 
held by an English fleet. Ginkell, taking a strong body 
of troops across the river in boats, dispersed the Irish 
Fall of cavalry encamped on the right bank, and 

Limerick. carried a detached fort, protecting the bridge 
which connected the two parts of the city. It was evident 
to both besieg-ers and besieged that Limerick must soon 



1691. Limerick. 187 

fall. Offers of capitulation were made, and a truce of a 
few days was arranged whilst the terms of the capitula- 
tion were being drawn up. 

On October i two treaties were signed, the one mili- 
tary, by Ginkell, the other civil, by the lords justices. By 
the military treaty all Irish officers and soldiers electing 
to leave their country, and retire to France, were Terms of 
to be conveyed thither by English transports, capitulation. 
Ten thousand availed themselves of this condition, and 
were formed into the Irish brigade which afterwards did 
such good service to the French kings. The civil treaty 
provided that the Irish who were Roman Catholics should 
enjoy all the privileges in the exercise of their religion 
which they had enjoyed in the reign of Charles 11. ; that 
they should have permission to carry arms, to exercise 
their professions, and should receive a full amnesty for all 
offences against the government of William and Mary. 

This treaty was subsequently confirmed by the Eng- 
lish Parliament. 

With the departure of the Irish soldiers the last ves- 
tige of opposition to the House of Orange disappeared. 
The lords justices appointed by William ruled the 
country with great harshness. An Irish Parliament — 
which, according to the law, was composed entirely of 
Protestants — was summoned to meet at Dublin in 1695. 
It refused to accept the conditions of the treaty of Lime- 
rick, and this refusal earned for that town the name of 
* The city of the violated treaty.' Penal laws of the ut- 
most severity against Roman Catholics were t 1 j i 

■' ° Ireland kept 

carried. Ireland was led into bondage, and in submis- 
its chains were riveted by the Irish Pro- 
testants, who thus took vengeance for the wrongs they had 
suffered at the hands of the Stuarts. 

So effectual were the measures of repression taken, that 
in the two insurrections in favour of the Stuarts which 



1 88 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.D. 

broke out in the i8th century, not a pike was sharpened, 
not a sword was drawn, not a shot was fired, in all Ire- 
land, on behalf of the last Catholic king. For nearly one 
hundred years the Catholics of Ireland were kept in such 
for nearly a Subjection that they could hardly be said to 
century. exist as a political party, and were objects 

neither of distrust nor fear to the English Government. 

Section II. — Scotland — Glencoe. 

Lord Breadalbane, one of the clan Campbell, had, 
early in the year 1691, laid before Dalrymple a scheme 
for the pacification of the Highlands. He proposed that 
William should offer a free pardon and a sum of money 
to all the chiefs who would take the oath of allegiance, 
and whose clans would bring their arms to Fort William 
before a certain day. The sum to be divided amongst 
them was to be from ten to fifteen thousand pounds. 
Dalrymple approved of the plan, for he hoped that the 
Negotiations pride of the chieftains would be too great to 
with the allow them to accept the offer, and that their 

Highland . ^ ■> 

clans. refusal might afford a pretence for carrying 

fire and sword into their territories. William agreed to 
the proposal. 

December 31, 1691, was fixed on as the last day on 
which the chieftains could accept the conditions offered. 
Dalrymple's hopes were not realised. He had given the 
officers in command instructions as to the way they were 
to deal with the chiefs, and hoped ' the government would 
not be troubled with prisoners.' But by the 31st all had 
laid down their arms except the Macdonalds of Glencoe. 

Glencoe, a Highland valley near Loch Leven and Ben 
Nevis, was almost surrounded by the lands of the Camp- 
bells. It was held by the Macdonalds, a small 
clan, but '^^^Y troublesome neighbours to the 
Campbells. The Macdonalds were hated by the Campbells, 



1691. 



Glcncoe. 



189 



and Glencoe was a very Naboth's vineyard to both Lords 
Breadalbane and Argyle. 

When first negotiations were opened with the High- 
land chiefs, Breadalbane told Macdonald of Glencoe that 
he should retain any money which might be due to 
Macdonald on submitting, as a compensa- 
tion for various injuries inflicted at various 
times by the Macdonalds on the Camp- 
bells. The old chieftain had consequently 
no inducement to offer to his men to lay down their 



Macdonald 
of Glencoe 
delays 
giving in his 
submission. 




[GlencqeI 



arms, and was also fearful that if they were disarmed 
the Campbells would become troublesome. But when, at 
the close of 169 1, Macdonald heard that every other clan 
had submitted, he presented himself on December 30 be- 
fore the governor of Fort William to take the oaths. The 
governor, not being a magistrate, was unable to administer 
them, but he gave him a letter to the sheriff of Inverary, 
who administered the oaths to Macdonald on January 6. 
Breadalbane informed Dalrymple that all had sub- 
mitted save the Macdonalds of Glencoe. Dalrymple 



1 90 TJie Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

then obtained from William a written order 'to ex- 
Wiiiiam tirpate that sept of thieves, for the vindication 

orders of public justice.' 'The king,' says Burnet, 

justice to be , . 1 ■■ . • -, • • r i 

done on Signed this Without any inquiry, lor he was 

Glencoe. ^^^ ^^^ ^^ gj^j^ papers in a hurry without 

examining them.' This was caused by the accumulation 
of business papers. But William was kept in ignorance 
of Macdonald's having offered to take the oaths before 
the appointed time, and of his having actually taken them 
a few days afterwards. The fatal order reached the 
governor of Fort William, and was transmitted by him 
for execution to the colonel commanding Argyle's regi- 
ment of soldiers. The colonel sent 120 men of his regi- 
ment, under a Captain Campbell, who was connected by 
marriage with one of the Macdonalds. The Macdonalds 
entertained the soldiers on their arrival in the valley hos- 
pitably. They thought, as they had heard nothing to the 
contrary, that their submission was accepted. On the 
thirteenth day of their stay in Glencoe, Captain Campbell 
received full instructions from his colonel, and in accord- 
ance with this, the soldiers, at daybreak of February 13, 
fell on their unsuspecting hosts. Forty of the Macdonalds 
were slain at once. The rest of the clan, with women 
and children, made their escape to the mountains. There, 
cold, wearied, and starved, the greater number perished 
in the snows of that inclement winter. 

When the news of the 'massacre of Glencoe' reached 
Lewis is ^^ French court, Lewis XIV. openly ex- 

shocked, pressed his abhorrence. The author of the 

Dragonnades, the persecutor of the Huguenots, the 
master of those who devastated the Palatinate, could not 
find words adequate to express his abhorrence of William 
for this outrage on humanity. 

The Scotch Parliament in 1695 entered on an inquiry 
into the matter. The inquiry had been ordered before, 



1691. Scotland. 191 

but for one reason or another had been postponed. The 
result was that Parhament recommended the prosecution 
of the officers of Argyle^s regiment, and brought to Hght 
the double-dealing of Breadalbane and Dalrymple. 
Breadalbane was in consequence committed to prison on 
a charge of high treason, and Dalrymple's resignation of 
his office was accepted by William, The prosecution, 
however, of the officers never took place. ^ , „ 

■*■ BrC 3. 0.3.103.116 

The trial of Breadalbane was delayed until escapes 
the session of Parliament came to an end, and punishment. 
then was dropped. ^ Political necessity,' it is said, ' bears 
down justice and honour.' But William's character is 
stained by the careless signing of an inhuman order, and 
by the protection granted to the instigators and perpe- 
trators of the Glencoe massacre. 

The Highlands being now pacified, the work of finally 
establishing William and Mary on the Scotch throne 
went on rapidly. The Presbyterian Church was restored 
as the Church of Scotland. A Toleration Act was pro- 
posed by William, but to this the Scotch Par- Scotland 
liament remained unalterably opposed. Wil- tranquil. 
liam was obliged to yield, but during his reign no persecu- 
tion for religion took place. 

For the remaining years of the seventeenth century 
Scotland caused no disquiet to the reigning sovereign, 
nor did the Jacobites succeed in gaining in that kingdom 
many fresh adherents to their cause. ' 



192 The Fall of the Stuarts, &€. a.D. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The War during 1691, 1692, 1693, 1694. 

Section I. — Congress at the Hague. 

In January 1691 a congress assembled at the Hague. 
William pre- William arrived there at the end of that 
sides at the month, and found already assembled the 

congress at ' •' 

the Hague. greater number of the German electors and 
sovereign princes, and plenipotentiaries from the Em- 
peror, from the Kings of Spain, Sweden, Denmark, and 
Poland, and from the Duke of Savoy. He presided at 
the formal opening of the congress. 

After a few days' deliberation it was agreed that the 
allies should keep in the field an army of 

The resolu- . „ %_,, 

tions agreed 220,000 men to Operate agamst France. The 
°"" contingents to be furnished by each of the 

allies were fixed, and the various details of the ensuing 
campaign were settled. 

Two essentials for military success, full authority vested 
in one man, and perfect secrecy, are seldom 
inacoali- to be found in coalitions. Moreover, it is 
^'°'^" difficult for two allies to be in such complete 

agreement that no cause for jealousy or misunderstand- 
ing should arise between them. But here there were not 
two, but twenty powers combined together, and supposed 
to act as one. There may be a moral strength added to 
a cause in its being supported by many allies ; but the 
moral strength is more than counterbalanced by the weak- 
ness inherent in a coalicion. That the Grand Alliance did 
not break up altogether is due to the consummate judgment 
and statesmanlike management of William, exercised not 
once, but over and over again. On the other hand, many 
of the successes in the ensuing campaigns which at- 




I \ 



AL\P OF 

LANDERS AND BRABANT 

TO ILLUSTRATE 
CAMPAIGNS OF W\LLIAM 111 
^lant 1690-1696 

Scale of iiilfis 



t==,..=^ 



Edw'^WeHer 




.London : Lortgraufis & Co. 



Edw'^Weller 



1691. Campaign of \6()\. 193 

tended the French arms may be traced to the fact that 
Lewis XIV. was his own master, made his own plans, 
consulted no other sovereign, and kept his own counsel. 



Section II. — Campaign ofi6()i. 

The plan of operations agreed on by the allies was, that 
the Emperor should, with an army, hold the .„. , 

-,,.,, , V Allies have 

Rhme and threaten the eastern frontier of four armies 
France ; that the Duke of Savoy should be '"^ '^^ *^^''^- 
prepared with another army to enter France through the 
passes of Piedmont ; that Spain should have an army 
acting on her frontier ; and that William and the northern 
allies should defend the Low Countries, and reduce the 
fortresses in French Flanders. 

The frontiers of the Low Countries of Spanish Flan- 
ders, Hainault and Brabant, extended con- Lines of 

tinuously for about 200 miles. They were defence m 

■' •' the Nether- 

defended by fortified towns, all of which lands. 

were in the hands of the allies. Beginning on the 
w^est, we find Nieuport, Furnes, Dixmuide, Deynse, 
Oudenarde, Ath, Mons. Behind these, and joining a second 
line of defence, were Ostend, Bruges, Ghent, and Brussels. 
From Mons the line of defence was continued to the east 
by the river Sambre, with the fortress of Charleroi, to the 
north-east by the Meuse, with the fortified towns, Namur, 
Huy, Lidge, and Maestricht. During the coming cam- 
paign many of these towns were captured and recaptured, 
and the attempts to relieve their garrisons by either one 
side or the other were the causes of most of the battles. 
When the congress broke up, the French were' 
supposed to be unprepared, and to be disposed Luxembourg 
to act only on the defensive. But suddenly ^^^^ Mons. 
Luxembourg appeared before Mons, Avith an army of 
icOjOoo men. Lewis himself was also present, pro- 

M.H. O 



194 Jhe Fall of the ShmrtSy &c. A.D. 

videdwith every luxury to which he was accustomed at Ver- 
sailles, and attended by a numerous retinue, including his 
troop of players, his musicians, his valets, and his cooks. 
Vauban, the engineer-in-chief, was also with the army. 
William, with some difficulty collecting a force of 50,000, 
marched to the relief of Mons. But before he had arrived 
near it he heard that Mons had fallen (April 9). William 
accordingly withdrew towards Brussels, left the Prince of 
Waldeck with a force of 18,000 men to defend that 
city, and placed his English troops in an entrenched 
camp. He then paid a hasty visit to England to 
arrange for the Irish campaign, and returned to Flanders 
in May. 

On the fall of Mons, Lewis returned in triumph to 
Versailles, leaving Luxembourg to repair the damages 
done to the fortifications of the captured fortress, and to 
continue the campaign. With an army of 40,000 men, 
Luxembourg set out in May to surprise Brussels, Marshal 
Boufflers being detached with another French division 
Manoeuvres of almost equal numbers to attack Liege. 
an?die'^^" Waldeck had made the best disposition 
French. possible of his Small army, and William was 

able to bring up his English contingent, and not only to 
check Luxembourg's advance, but also to send succour 
to Liege. Every day fresh reinforcements joined the 
alHes, and at length, William finding himself superior in 
numbers to Luxembourg, tried to bring on a general 
action. Luxembourg, however, could not be tempted out 
of his lines. Rash when rashness was likely to succeed, 
he could be, when necessary, as cautious as William 
himself. 

Nothing further was done this year in the Spanish 
Netherlands. The troops went into winter quarters, and 
William returned to England on October 19. 

The French gained some slight successes over Spain 



1692. Campaign of 1692. 195 

on the Spanish and French frontier, and over the Duke 
of Savoy in Piedmont. On the Rhine nothing c^^paign 
of importance took place. ends abor- 

Lewis suffered a loss during this year for 
which many victories could not compensate. Louvois died 
in July. At enmity with Madame de Maintenon. bitterly 
mortified by the favour shown by Lewis to his Death of 
rival and enemy Luxembourg, jealous and Louvois. 
envious of the glory won at Mons, he suddenly fell ill and 
died. Lewis openly expressed his satisfaction, for he had 
for some time grown weary of the temper and insolence 
which his war minister displayed. But he soon found it 
impossible adequately to supply his place. Pre-eminent 
in military organisation, and unequalled in powers of 
administration, the ingenuity and activity of Louvois 
would have been of incalculable value to Lewis in the 
war which was now taxing the resources of France to the 
utmost. 



Section IIL — Campaign ofi6<^2. La Hogue a7td 
Steinkirk. 

The failure of James's party in Ireland was a great 
blow to Lewis. He had hoped that the war in that island 
would be sufficient to engage William's attention, and 
to prevent his affording material aid to the allies on 
the Continent. He gave out, therefore, that he would 
make a great descent on England, and win back for 
James his lost kingdom. Extraordinary pre- Lewis' pre- 
parations were therefore made in the winter paraLions, 
of 1691-2. On this expedition, and on the attack in 
the Netherlands, all the strength of France was to be 
employed. Lewis mustered altogether, in ^^^ 
this year, 450,000 soldiers and 100,000 strength. 
sailors. For the actual invasion of England 30,000 



ig6 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d, 

troops were told off, and were stationed at Havre, 
Cherbourg, and Fort la Hogue. Five hundred transports 
were collected for their conveyance, and a fleet, in which 
were fifty sail of the line, commanded by Tourville, 
was ordered to protect the passage. For service in the 
Netherlands an army of 100,000 was placed under the 
command of Luxembourg, and Lewis again joined them 
and opened the campaign in person. 

William, who was commander-in-chief of the allies in 
the Netherlands, found himself at the head of 80,000 men 
to oppose Luxembourg. 

James caused to be circulated in England a ' declara- 
r> laratl n tion ' Calling on his subjects to join his stan- 
of James. dard ; in this he exhorted them not to be afraid 
of the vengeance of William, because French troops would 
soon land in sufficient numbers to protect them, and to 
overcome opposition; while at the same timehe threatened 
various noblemen and prelates with punishment for their 
disloyalty. No sooner was this unwise declaration made 
public, than Mary and her council caused it to be printed 
and distributed in every direction. The effect of the 
publication was to unite Englishmen of all ranks and all 
political parties, to disgust even the Jacobites, and to 
make the statesmen, soldiers, and sailors who had been 
entrapped into correspondence with James, ashamed of 
their conduct, and return to their duty. Amongst those 
on whom the ' declaration ' thus acted was Admiral 
Russell, now commanding the English fleet. 

James left Versailles to witness the embarkation of the 
force intended for England, and pitched his tent in the 
camp formed at Fort la Hogue, a small but strongly 
fortified place on the east coast of the Cotentin peninsula, 
not many miles from Cherbourg. On May 17 the 
French transports began to receive their troops. On 
the same day Russell, with the combined English and 



1693. Campaign of 1692. 197 

Dutch fleet, numbering ninety sail of the hne, appeared 
off the coast of Cotentin, Tourville, with Tourviile 
forty-four sail of the line, determined to give E"t^|^sV'^^ 
battle. James had shown Tourville a certain fleet. 
correspondence which had passed between himself and 
Russell, and had assured him that the greater part of the 
English captains and crews were Jacobites, who would 
desert on the first opportunity. James little knew the 
good done to the cause of his enemies by his ' declaration.' 
Tourville, therefore, in coming to this apparently rash 
determination, reckoned that if any resistance were 
offered to him, it would be but a lukewarm one. 

The two fleets met about 20 miles from the French 
coast. The wind was at first favourable to the French, 
and permitted only half the allied fleet to come Battle of La 
into action. The battle had lasted for five ^^f^' ^^' 
hours ; but, although Tourville momentarily Tourville. 
expected part of the English fleet to yield or retire, no 
sign of defection appeared. The wind then shifted, and 
brought together all the allies. Tourville saw that it was 
useless to contend longer against such odds, and gave the 
signal to retire. Every French ship made its way, as best 
it could, to the shores of France. Some of the fleet, 
making for St. Malo, escaped in safety through the 
dangerous channel known as the Race of Alderney. 
Three ships reached Cherbourg ; one of these was the 
Royal Sun, the finest ship in the French navy, in which 
Tourville had hoisted his flag during the early part of 
the engagement. The remainder, 13 in number, were, 
under the orders of Tourville, stranded at La Hogue, 
with their broadsides turned towards the sea. A few 
days afterwards they were attacked by Sir G. Rooke 
with frigates, fireships, and boats from the squadron, and 
James had the mortification of being an eyewitness of 
their destruction. The Royal Sun and her two consorts 



198 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. A.D. 

were also burnt at Cherbourg by an English squadron 
under Admiral Delaval. 

James's last chance of regaining the English throne 
Last project vanished with the victory of Russell at La 
of invasion Hoffue. No armament was ever again 

by Lewis ^ r i j 

fails. raised by Lewis for the invasion of England. 

Some military critics doubt whether Lewis intended the 
invasion, and think that he meant only to make a feint, 
in order to cause William to withdraw with his English 
troops from the Netherlands. If so, the stratagem had 
not the desired effect. When, on June i, Lewis and 
Luxembourg invested Namur, William had Avith some 
difficulty collected an army near Huy of 70,000 men, with 
whom he hoped to force the French army, of more than 
100,000, to raise the siege. 

Namur is a fortified town situated at the junction of 
the Sambre and Meuse. Its defences had been greatly 
strengthened under the direction of Cohorn, the great 
Dutch engineer, the rival of Vauban. Cohorn was now 
present in the town to aid the garrison with his skill. 
Vauban was with Lewis to advise him in the conduct of 
Siege and the siegc. Lewis himself undertook the re- 
capture of duction of the town, having detached Luxem- 

Namur by 70 

Lewis. bourgwith 80,000 men to cover the siege oper- 

ations, and ward off any offensive movement of William. 
Luxembourg contented himself with always presenting a 
bold front to the allies, so that, if William should resolve 
on attacking him, it would be at a disadvantage. A con- 
tinual downpour of rain, lasting for some days, caused the 
rivers to overflow their banks, and laid all the surrounding 
country under water, so that William was, by this means 
alone, unable to send any help to the garrison. On June 
8 the town surrendered, but the citadel held out until the 
23rd. Lewis made a triumphant entry into Namur, and 
then returned to Versailles, to receive the congratulations 



1692. Battle of Steinkirk. 199 

of Madame de Maintenon and the flatteries of his cour- 
tiers, whilst Luxembourg was left to conduct the cam- 
paign. 

William, in his hopes of finding some opening in 
Luxembourg's lines through which he might reach Namur, 
had moved constantly to his right, so that on the day of 
the surrender of the capital he was about ten miles to the 
westward of the town. He at once withdrew his forces 
and took up a position at Genappe, close to the plain of 
Waterloo, so as to be able to defend Brussels against an 
army advancing from either Mons or Namur. Here, on 
August I, he heard that Luxembourg had advanced from 
Mons, and had already reached the village of Steinkirk, 
and had there encamped his right wing, leaving his left 
wing, under the command of Boufflers, at P-Lnghien, a vil- 
lage about four miles to the westward. William hoped 
by a rapid march to his right to surprise the French. On 
the morning of the 3rd he ordered his advanced guard of 
English and Dutch, numbering about 5,000 Battle of 
men, to attack the right wing of the French. Stemkirk. 
The attack was vigorously made, and a French corps in ad- 
vance of the right wing was pushed back, and threw those 
in rear somewhat into confusion. But the attacking party 
was not supported quickly. Luxembourg ordered his 
right to advance, supported it with regiments from his 
centre, and sent orders for the left wing to march obli- 
quely from Enghien, and so threaten to outflank William's 
right. The surprise was now over, and the assailants 
were fighting against great odds. Gallantly the English 
and Dutch held their own, gaining, perhaps, a few feet of 
ground. The English foot-guards, in particular, covered 
themselves with glory. William could not, owing to the 
nature of the country, make sufficient use of his cavalry, 
and it was in fact itself in danger from the advance of 
the French left. Reluctantly, therefore, William gave the 



200 TJic Fall of the Stuarts, &c. 



A.D. 




1693. Campaign of 1693. 201 

word to fall back, and the allied army, in good order and 
unpursued, retired from the field. 

The French loss at the battle of Steinkirk was about 
7,000 killed and wounded ; that of the allies was about the 
same in number, but the English alone lost 2,000 killed 
and 3,000 wounded. 

Although the French were victorious, William gained 
the object he had in view, for Luxembourg was stopped 
on his march to Brussels, and compelled to Result of 
wait eight days at Enghien, reorganising his the battle. 
army. Finding that William had again taken up a strong 
position in front of Brussels, Luxembourg turned his 
army westwards, and after various marches and counter- 
marches on both sides, both armies went into winter 
quarters. William himself left for England Septem- 
ber 26. 

The war this year languished on the Rhine and on 
the Spanish frontier, but the Duke of Savoy gained some 
trifling successes over the French in the Alps. 

Section IV. — Campaign of 1693 — Neerwinden. 

William reached Holland again on March 31, 1693. 
It was with considerable difficulty that he smoothed 
over dissensions amongst the allies, and contrived to take 
the field in May, at the head of 50,000 men. Lewis also 
joined his soldiers under Luxembourg and Boufflers. 
They numbered more than double those which William 
commanded. Finding himself so strong, 
Lewis thought it would be easy for him to drive quits the°°'^ 
William out of Brabant, and annex that pro- ^^"^y- 
vince. William had drawn up his army before Louvain, 
and so skilful were the dispositions he had made, that 
Lewis found the task he had undertaken more difficult 
than he had anticipated. Luxembourg assured his 
master that it would be impossible to move William 



202 The Fall of the Stuarts^ &c. a.d. 

without fighting a pitched battle. Now battles were not to 
Lewis's taste. In them he knew he ran some personal 
risk, and that, even if he gained a victory, it might 
prove to be a barren one, a mere precursor of another en- 
gagement. In a siege, on the other hand, he had found 
by experience that he need not expose himself, and the 
captured town was a material proof of his military 
prowess. So finding there was no fortress to be invested, 
but a tough battle to be fought, Lewis took leave of his 
generals and hurried back to Versailles, having first 
sent half of his troops to reinforce the army on the 
Rhine. Luxembourg was left in sole command of the 
French army in Flanders, which, although thus reduced, 
still far outnumbered that of William. 

William, however, having received some reinforce- 
ments, felt himself strong enough to send a division, 
under the Duke of Wiirtemberg, into French Flanders, 
to threaten Tournay and Lille. Luxembourg withdrew 
his army southwards and laid siege to Huy. William 
moved from his position before Louvain, to 
tured by attempt the relief of Huy. He had advanced 

Luxembourg. ^^^ days' march beyond Tirlemont, when he 
heard that Huy had surrendered, and that Luxembourg 
was preparing to invest Liege and Maestricht. He there- 
fore hastily sent troops to reinforce the garrisons of 
these fortresses, and with his reduced army formed an 
encampment near Landen. 

But Luxembourg having thus induced William to 
weaken his army by sending off reinforcements, con- 
centrated his own troops, and, in hopes of crushing 
William by mere force of numbers, marched to give him 
battle. On July 28 he arrived in sight of William's 
camp, which he found formed on a well chosen 
spot, between the river Little Gheet and a small stream 
called the Landen, and in the rear of the three villages 



1693. Campaign of i6(^'^. 203 

of Laer, Neervvinden, and Romsdorf, The ground sloped 
down gradually from the camp towards these villages. 
The whole front of the position was strengthened by- 
ditches, breastworks, and redoubts, in which nearly 100 
guns were mounted. William, although he 
might have retreated, thought that, even with of ^WiTiiam's 
his inferior numbers (for he had barely ^^^y- 
50,000 men to oppose to 70,000 under Luxembourg), the 
position could be held, and therefore waited the attack 
of the French. He drew up his army so that his left 
rested on the Landen, and was posted on rising ground 
to the rear of Romsdorf ; his centre occupied the en- 
trenchments in front of his camp, and his right held 
in force the villages of Laer and Neerwinden. 

Luxembourg made his first attack with his own 
centre on that of William, but after two hours' hard 
fighting had made no impression. Retiring his centre, 
and sending from it regiments to strengthen g^^^ ^f 
each of his wings, with his right wing he Neerwinden. 
occupied and held Romsdorf, with his left he attacked 
Laer and Neerwinden. These latter formed the key of the 
position, for, if they were taken by the French, William's 
right flank would be turned. A desperate struggle there- 
fore took place round these villages. The defenders 
repulsed two attacks of infantry and three of cavalry. 
But William was obliged to move regiments from his 
centre to strengthen his extreme right at Laer, although 
the English guards and the Hanoverian contingent, 
without aid, held fast Neerwinden. Luxembourg now 
made a feint on the left of the allies, whilst he prepared 
for a last great effort on Neerwinden. He ordered to the 
attack the French guards, who were fresh and had been 
kept in reserve. These delivered a fierce assault on the 
defenders, who had been now engaged for seven hours, 
and who were driven slowly out of the village, stubbornly 



204 



The Fall of the Stuarts, crc. 



A.D. 




1693. Campaign of 1 693. 205 

contesting every yard of ground. Luxembourg, once 
having gained Neervvindenj was able to use his cavalry 
with fatal effect on the right wing of the allies. William 
saw that the day was lost, and that he must retire. He 
had previously ordered a body of dragoons to hold the 
village of Dormael, about a mile in rear of his camp, 
and thither he directed his troops to fall back. This 
they did, but with no sign of disorder. The English 
troops covering the retreat, and led by William in person, 
again and again faced about and attacked the French, 
so that Luxembourg, after twelve hours' fighting, gave 
orders for his men to halt, and allowed the allies to 
continue their retreat without further molestation. 

The losses of both the French and the allies at the 
battle of Neerwinden (or Landen, as it is sometimes 
called) were numerous. Luxembourg is com- Losses of 
puted to have lost, in killed and wounded, each army. 
1 7,000 men. The total loss of the allies was 6,000. 

William leisurely retired on Brussels, whilst Luxem- 
bourg, having halted a day on the field of battle, moved 
a few miles to his rear, and spent a fortnight in re- 
organising his army. During this time William was 
joined by all the troops he had detached to charieroi 
French Flanders. Luxembourg, on hearing captured, 
this, withdrew southwards to Charleroi, and invested 
that fortress. After a siege of two months, Charleroi 
surrendered. Both armies soon after went into winter 
quarters, William arriving in England October 29. 

In spite of the great losses at La Hogue, the naval 
resources of France were such that, in the year 1693, 
no less than 71 ships of the line, besides smaller vessels, 
were afloat. A gleam of success came to console 
Tourville under the despondency from which he had 
suffered since his defeat. The English and Dutch 
merchant fleet bound for Smyrna was escorted as far 



2o6 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.d. 

as the coast of Spain by a large fleet of English men 
of war, but thence it was allowed to continue its voyage 
Great loss of towards the Mediterranean with a convoy of 
DuSh^mS only 20 men of war, commanded by Sir G. 
chantmen. Rooke. Tourville lay in wait for the fleet, 
with a squadron of ships of the line greatly superior 
in force to that under Rooke. On June 27 he attacked 
the fleet, and destroyed the greater part. It was owing 
entirely to the valour and seamanship of Rooke that any 
escaped. Great indignation was felt in England and 
Holland at the carelessness of the Admiralty officials 
in allowing so valuable a fleet to be so inefficiently pro- 
tected. The merchants of both countries were heavy 
losers by this disaster. 

The French army on the Rhine effected but httle. In 
Campaign Savoy, howcver, the army of Lewis gained a 
Sa^^yi"a^j;(J'' great victory at Massagha (October 4), but 
Spain. for want of reinforcements was unable to 

follow it up. In Spain the result of the campaign 
was, on the whole, favourable to the French. 

Both by land and sea, Lewis had in this year proved 
^ . his power. Nevertheless he desired peace. 

Lewis ^ "^ 

wishes for He had put forth every effort, and had stramed 
peace. -^-yc, rcsourccs to the utmost, and yet had 

eained no substantial success. A few fortresses in 
Spanish Flanders, and glorious but barren victories, were 
his only reward. Louvois, too, was dead, and there was no 
longer his fertile brain to devise expedients for replenishing 
the treasury. The taxes of France were increased to the 
utmost. The coinage was debased as much as possible. 
The nation was in the deepest distress. ' The people 
were perishing to the sound of Te Deums.' 

The new Pope (Innocent XII.) who, in 1691, had 
succeeded Alexander, endeavoured to mediate. Spain 
and Savoy were willing to enter into negotiations, and 



1694. Campaign of 1694. 207 

so also were Denmark and Sweden, but William urged 
the Emperor to continue the war, showing Negotia- 
him that now was the time, when France was tions come 

' to nothing 

becommg exhausted, to crush permanently through 
the power and pretensions of Lewis. Wil- unwiUing- 
liam's arguments and his diplomacy were "ess. 
successful, and both the allies and France prepared for 
the campaign of 1694. 



Section V. — Caijipaign ^1694. 

A large fleet, with a considerable force of soldiers on 
board, was collected at Portsmouth, and from thence 
sailed to reduce Brest. But the French had ^^ 

!N 3.V3.1 

been warned beforehand (it is said through incidents of 
Lord Marlborough having treacherously ^^^"^^ 
given information to James), and the fortifications had 
been strengthened by Vauban. The Enghsh troops 
were landed, but were repulsed, and the expedition proved 
a failure. However, Dunkirk, Calais, Dieppe, and Havre 
were in the course of the summer bombarded by the 
English, and much damage done. On the other hand, 
both the English and Dutch trade suffered considerably 
from French privateers. 

William proceeded to the Netherlands on May 6. The 
campaign was productive of few events of importance. 
Luxembourg, who again commanded the French army, 
was now inferior in numbers to the allies, and skilfully 
managed to avoid a general engagement, Huy was, 
however, recaptured from the French on Sep- ^ 

^ ^ Campaign in 

tember 29. William returned to England in Nether- 
the beginning of November. ^^"'^^^ 

Lewis this year put out his greatest strength against 
Spain. He hoped thus to force the King of Spain to 



208 The Fall of tJie Stuarts, &€. a.d. 

make peace ; but although his army captured some impor- 
and in *^^^ towiis, the presence on the coast of a 

Spain. Strong Enghsh fleet prevented the reahsation 

of his plans. 

In Savoy and Germany nothing noteworthy oc- 
curred. 

The result of the campaign, however, was what William 
anticipated. France was still further weakened. Lewis 
could no longer strike a strong blow. His resources 
were almost exhausted. He would be unable to continue 
the contest much longer. 



CHAPTER XVni. 

PARLIAMENT UNTIL 1695. DEATH OF QUEEN MARY. 

In the session of 1693-4 an important constitutional 
change was quietly inaugurated. 

William had found a great difficulty in carrying on 
the government, owing to the disagreement amongst his 
ministers on matters of state policy. Tories and Whigs 
could hardly be expected to take the same views. He 
therefore resolved to consult a man whose judgment of 
party politics, and tact in dealing with factions, both Eng- 
lish and foreign statesmen held in the highest esteem. 
This man was Sunderland. Sunderland, having 
consults escaped to Holland in 16S8, had lived a retired 

Sunderland, j-^g -^^ ^j^^^ country for two ycars, but had 
kept up a constant correspondence with influential friends 
in England, in order to pave the way for his return. 
Excluded by name from the Act of Grace, he yet ventured, 
when that bill became law, to return to England. Not, 
however, until the close of the session of 1692 did he 



1694. Parliament, 1690- 169 5. 209 

dare to appear in the House of Lords. From that time, 
however, he was constant in his attendance in the Upper 
House. 

WilUam, after consulting Sunderland, came to the con- 
clusion that in future his ministers should be taken from 
one party in the state, so as to insure unanimity of 
opinion and action, and that that party from which he 
should first choose the united ministry should be the 
Whig-s. A Whig ministry was accordingly _ , 

1 , . , , r T / ^ The Junto. 

formed, to which the name of Junto (a word 
signifying a joining together or union) was given. Somers, 
the great lawyer, was made lord keeper of the privy seal. 
Russell (his treasonable correspondence with James being 
overlooked as a reward for his victory at La Hogue) went 
to the Admiralty. Lord Shrewsbury, created a duke, 
became one of the secretaries of state. Thomas Whar- 
ton, the eldest son of Lord Wharton, became the other 
secretary. Wharton was a man of considerable ability, 
but his character was so bad that no one respected 
him. His profligacy was notorious, and his companion- 
ship was shunned even in an age of lax morality. He 
was also a gambler and a duellist. He was true to 
one thing only, and that was to the Whig party. But 
his powers as a party leader were extraordinary. Monta- 
gue, a young man of only thirty-five years of age, who 
had already earned a reputation in Parliament by his 
oratory and his criticisms on financial matters, was made 
chancellor of the exchequer. 

In 1692-3 the National Debt may be said to have 
had its commencement. The revenue did not suffice 
to provide for the extraordinary expenses Beginning 
of the war, and it was necessary to adopt National 
some expedient for procuring more money. Debt. 
The wealth of the nation had greatly increased since 
the middle of this century. Money was more plenti- 

M.H. P 



210 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.D. 

ful, and means of employing this money was scarce. 
London had been, consequently, for the last four years, 
overrun with speculators proposing all kinds of ridiculous 
schemes for employing money and realising enormous 
profits. A bill was introduced into Parliament and carried, 
by which, adopting an expedient familiar to the financiers 
of Holland and France, the Government was empowered 
to borrow a million of money, and to grant in repayment 
annuities bearing interest at the rate of ten per cent, per 
annum. Certain excise duties were set apart to form a 
fund for the purpose. The public, recognising the 
superiority of such security to that offered them by the 
speculators, readily responded, and the money was ob- 
tained with a promptitude which surpassed expectation. 

In the next session 1693-4, the revenue still failed to 
meet the expenses of the war. A sum of 1,200,000/. was 
accordingly raised by borrowing it of a company of mer- 
chants, who undertook to provide it on con- 
England dition of being incorporated, with certain 
formed. privileges guaranteed by an act of parlia- 
ment. The scheme was originally proposed by William 
Paterson, a Scotchman, but was now adopted by Montague 
with great success. The subscribers were formed into a 
corporation as the Governor and Company of the Bank of 
England. The original rate of interest was fixed at eight 
per cent. 

A great part of the time of this Second Parhament was 
spent in discussions on the proper securities for justice in 
trials for treason, on which the difference between Lords 
and Commons was such that the decision was delayed till 
the first session of the next Parliament (chap. xx.). 

Another debated question was the Place Bill. Its aim 
was to prevent all persons holding offices of 

Place Bill. , , J 1 . J .u c 

trust and emolument under the crown from 
sitting in the House of Commons. Doubtless, it is dis- 
advantageous that the Lower House should be filled with 



1694. Parliament, 1690- 1695. 211 

office holders, but, on the other hand, nothing could be 
more injurious to the welfare of the country than to ex- 
clude from the Commons all the great functionaries of 
state. Those who voted for this bill probably did not con- 
sider that the inevitable result of its becoming law would 
have been, that all the great offices of state would be 
filled, and the country governed, by members of the 
House of Lords. The bill passed the Commons in 1692-3, 
but was rejected by the Lords by a small majority of 
three. 

In 1693-4, the Place Bill passed both Houses, but the 
king refused his assent. On this being announced, a 
warm debate arose in the Commons, and it piace Bill 
was proposed that the king should be asked Passed, but 

r r o royal assent 

his reasons for refusing assent. The motion refused, 
was, however, rejected by a large majority, the House 
thus, with great moderation, acknowledging the power of 
giving a veto as then resting with the crown. 

Another bill on which there was a similar difference 
between king and Parliament came to a different issue. 
This was a bill for triennial Parliaments. It Triennial 
was a very short bill, and only provided that Bill, 
no future Parliament should last longer than three years. 
It was intended to prevent the recurrence of such con- 
duct as that of Charles II., in continuing one Parliament 
for seventeen years. The king had refused his assent to 
this bill, when it passed both Houses in 1692-3. 

Two years afterwards this Triennial Bill at last became 
law. In 1694-5, Parliament coupled it with a Triennial 
bill of supply, and the want of these supplies, ^^^' passed. 
and the fear of probable disturbances if Mary died (for the 
queen was now seriously ill), perhaps induced William 
to give his assent. The Triennial Act remained in 
force until the Septennial Act was passed, twenty years 
afterwards. 



212 TJie Fall of the Stuarts, &€. a.D. 

Small-pox was particularly virulent in the year 1694. 
Among those attacked in the month of December was 
Illness and Gueen Mary. Great alarm was at once felt 
death of ■\q„ j^^j. friends, and William showed so much 

Queen •' ' 

Mary. grief as to astonish those around him, for he 

was never in the habit of letting others see him exhibit 
strong feeling. Now, however, he broke down. He 
burst into tears and said, ' that from being the happiest 
he was now going to be the miserablest creature upon 
earth.' In a few days all hope was at an end. Mary's 
behaviour to the last was remarkable. She never once 
allowed an impatient word to escape her ; with the utmost 
calmness she gave the last directions to her servants ; she 
addressed expressions of comfort and consolation to the 
king, and showed the greatest pleasure and satisfaction at 
the attendance of the ministers of religion. She died on 
December 20, aged 33. The grief for her death was not 
confined to the court, for her charity was great. ' She 
never inquired of what opinion persons were who were 
objects of charity.' Handsome in person, and lively in 
manners, no word of slander was ever breathed against 
her. ' Her debts were small, and everything in that 
exact method as seldom is found in any private person.' 
* I'm sure,' says one who was no partisan of William of 
Orange, ' she was as admirable a woman, as does, if pos- 
sible, outdo the renowned Queen Elizabeth.' 

No act of James's life showed more his mean and 
revengeful disposition than his request to Lewis that the 
French court should not put on mourning for his daugh- 
ter's death. 

The liberty of the press was recognised in 1695. 
r, , . Hitherto the publication of books had been 

Censorship ^ 

of press restrained by an act of parliament, renewed 

abandoned. . , i • v • j 1.1 

every three years, which required every book 
to be licensed. All legal works had to receive the ' im- 



1695. Parliament^ 1690- 1695. 213 

primatur/ or permission to be printed, of the lord chan- 
cellor or his deputy ; all books on history and politics, 
the license of one of the secretaries of state or his deputy; 
and all treatises on divinity, physic, or philosophy, that of 
the Archbishop of Canterbury. The last act to restrain 
unlicensed printing had been passed in 1692, and in 1695 
the time for which it was in force expired. No new act 
was brought forward in the House, and thus the censor- 
ship of the press was quietly abandoned. 

The last weeks of the session of 1695 disclosed a sys- 
tem of wide-spread corruption among the members of both 
Houses. The Speaker of the House of Com- Bribery 
mons, confessing to having received bribes, prevalent. 
was expelled the House. The Commons prepared 
to impeach various officials. The Duke of Leeds (to 
which title the Marquis of Carmarthen, formerly Earl 
of Danby, was now raised), proposing to defend some of 
those accused, was himself threatened with parliament 
impeachment. At this juncture the king sud- dissolved, 
denly prorogued the Parliament, and in the following 
October it was dissolved. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

VARIOUS PLOTS AGAINST WILLIAM. PROGRESS OF THE WAR 

IN 1695. 

Section I. — Disgrace of Marlborough. 

In narrating the defeat off Beachy Head, and the 
consequent court-martial on Torrington, attention was 
directed to the extraordinary reaction in the public feel- 
ing, which, at first directed against Torrington, suddenly 
turned in his favour. The cause of this reaction was 



214 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. A.D. 

stated to be jealousy of the Dutch. This jealousy con- 
lealousyfelt tinued to increase. William was supposed to 
hsh U3\v^rds ^°°^ after Dutch interests in preference, and 
Holland. somctimes in opposition, to English interests. 

Few Englishmen of that day could appreciate the Con- 
tinental policy of William. He was popularly thought to 
be carrying on the war to maintain the integrity of the 
United Provinces, and to secure his own seat on the 
English throne. Englishmen could not understand that 
he was struggling to deliver Europe from slavery to 
Lewis XIV. 

Marlborough probably shared these popular prejudices, 
or, if he did not, he made use of them for his own pur- 
poses. At all events, he thought he was not sufficiently 
rewarded by William. After his brilliant and dashing 
campaign in the south of Ireland, he saw a Dutchman, 
Ginkell, appointed in the next spring to lead the army in 
. ^ Ireland, whilst he was carried off by William 

Disaffection , ., . . , . r ^ 

of Marl- to attend on him in the campaign of 1691, 

borough. ^^^ ^^g j^Q^ entrusted with an independent 

command. Marlborough's spirit chafed against being 
employed in a secondary position. He had confidence in 
his own military genius, and knew it to be superior to 
that of William's favoured Dutch generals. He was 
determined no longer to serve a master who did not value 
him. He strove in the first place to weaken William's 
influence by fomenting, among officers in the army and 
navy, and members of both Houses of Parliament, the 
feeling of jealousy towards the Dutch. He next entered 
into close communications with the late king at St. Ger- 
mains. But he was sure that England would not submit 
to the resumption of the throne by James Stuart. He 
therefore planned another solution of this difficulty, which 
would at the same time promote his own interests. 

Lady Marlborough was the attendant and confi- 



1691. Disgrace of Marlborough. 215 

dential friend of the Princess Anne. The princess 
was indolent, good-tempered, and phant. Lady Marl- 
Lady Marlborough was strong-minded, im- Jhe°pfin^es^- 
perious, and ambitious. They were on such Anne. 
familiar terms that the princess was habitually addressed 
by Lady Marlborough as Mrs. Morley, and Lady Marl- 
borough by the princess as Mrs. Freeman. Marlborough's 
scheme was by making use of the feeling of jealousy 
towards the Dutch to render William hated ; then, with 
the co-operation of France, to drive him out of England; 
and then to proclaim the Princess Anne, who would be 
ruled altogether by himself and his wife. Thus he hoped 
to outwit William, Lewis, and the Jacobites, j^j^^.. 
But there were those at the court of St. Ger- borough's 
mains who remembered the perfidy of the rev^aieZto 
iorvaQX protege of James, and who placed no Wiiham. 
trust in the sincerity of his present professions. They 
thought he was either endeavouring to gain further favour 
with William by betraying the English Jacobites, or that 
he had some scheme in his head similar to the one he 
had so adroitly planned. They therefore forwarded to 
the English minister a full account of Marlborough's 
dealings with the court of James. 

William would have liked to bring Marlborough 
to trial ; but since the evidence of his guilt could not 
be produced in court without betraying the -^^yx. 
confidence of those who had sent the in- borough and 
formation, he dismissed him from all his dismissed 
offices on January 10, 1692. The Princess from court. 
Anne was ordered at the same time to send away Lady 
Marlborough. This she would not consent to do. Anne, 
therefore, and her husband, Prince George of Denmark, 
were desired forthwith to leave the court, and they retired 
to Sion House, remaining for a long time in disgrace 
with William. 



2i6 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.D. 

Section II. — Plots of Ftdler, Grandval, and CJiarnock. 

All through the winter of 169 1-2 vague misgivings 
were floating through society, those misgivings which are 
so indicative of deep-seated popular dissatisfaction. 
Men felt that plots were being hatched, and that the 
times were troublous. This was a condition favourable 
to the growth of false witnesses. An apt pupil of Titus 
Oates, one Fuller, a man who had failed to make a 
living by obtaining money under false pretences, came 
forward, and accused more than fifty noblemen and gentle- 
men of signing an address to Lewis, which begged him 
to put forth one more great effort for the Stuarts. Doubt- 
Tuiier's pre- ^^^s, some such addrcss was being prepared 
tended plot, ^y the Jacobite party in England, for 
addresses of this kind were constantly forwarded to St. 
Germains for transmission to Versailles. But the per- 
sons accused by Fuller were able to escape conviction. 
On cross-examination his tale broke down, ministers 
and lawyers proving less credulous than in the time of 
his tutor, Oates. So Fuller was himself tried, and was con- 
victed and sentenced as a common rogue and vagabond. 

William fortunately escaped falling a victim to a 
dangerous plot which was concocted against his life. 
Louvois, Lewis's minister, when on his death-bed, pro- 
posed that William should be murdered whilst with the 
allied army in the Netherlands. He found a Frenchman 
named Grandval willing to undertake to carry out the 
Grandval's design. Grandval accordingly sought for 
P^°^- accomplices, and thought he had found fitting 

ones in Dumont, a Walloon, and Liefdale, a Dutchman. 
In company with these he entered the Low Countries, 
but soon found himself brought a prisoner into the camp 
of William, for both his accomplices had betrayed him. 
Soon after the battle of Steinkirk he was tried by a court- 



1692. GrandvaV s Plot, 217 

martial. Before his judges he made a full confession, 
and acknowledged that he had had a parting interview 
with James and his wife, both of whom had been gracious 
to him, and promised him large rewards if successful. 
Grandval was found guilty and executed. 

Both Louvois and his master Lewis showed in this 
affair, as in the devastation of the Palatinate, their utter 
disregard for the laws of war among civilised nations. The 
discovery of this plot made the Whigs sympathise more 
with WiUiam, and show less antipathy to his tried Dutch 
friends. They now became aware of the dangers to 
which he was exposed. The Jacobites also let James 
and Lewis know that any further attempts Cessation of 
against the person of William would, if unsuc- SJe^nfe^of"^^ 
cessful, serve only to render William more William. 
popular, and, if successful, would not assure the return of 
James to England. No fresh conspiracies against the life 
of William had therefore been encouraged by James, until 
after the death of Queen Mary, although Jacobite intrigues 
against William's government were being continuously 
carried on. But in the year 1695 the position of affairs 
was altered. Queen Mary was dead, and William sat 
alone on the throne, a foreigner, and not very popular. 
At the same time the French resources were failing, and 
the allies were gaining strength. Home politics in Eng- 
land were in an unsettled state. The Jacobites therefore 
began to bestir themselves more actively, and to urge 
their correspondents in England to be on the alert. Thus 
roused, a conspiracy was formed, of which the ruling 
spirit was Charnock, a late fellow of Magdalen College, 
Oxford, who, whilst James was reigning, had become a 
convert to Romanism, and was now an unscrupulous 
Jacobite agent. With him were associated Porter and 
Goodman, men of infamous character. Sir William 
Parkyns, a prominent Tory lawyer, and Sir John Fen- 



2i8 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.D. 

wick, formerly member of parliament for Northumber- 
land, who had made himself notorious by passing Queen 
Mary in public without saluting her, and in such a manner 
as to show that he intended to insult her. Time slipped 
away, so that before the conspirators had matured any 
possible plan, William had started for Holland. They 
determined, therefore, to send Charnock to St. Germains 
to arrange with the ministers of James their future plans, 
and to obtain the approval of James and the active co- 
operation of Lewis XIV. 

Section III. — Capture of Namur by William. 

On January 5, 1695, Marshal Luxembourg died. This 
was a great loss to Lewis, for he had no other general of 
equal ability. In place of Luxembourg, Marshal Villeroi 
was sent to the Netherlands. Villeroi was a great 
Villeroi com- favouritc at court, and had the reputation of 
Frerfch\n^the ^cing a Consummate master of the art of war. 
Netherlands. One of the French court historians says that 
the opening of this campaign was a beautiful game of 
chess. William, however, throughout the campaign, 
fairly out-generalled Villeroi. He had never out- 
generalled Luxembourg. 

The allied forces in the Netherlands numbered about 
125,000. Villeroi had under him over 100,000. At the 
beginning of June William was ready to begin the cam- 
Wiiiiam's P^-ign. His plan was to threaten Ypres, to 
tactics draw all the French forces in that direction to 

against 

Villeroi. the westwards, and then suddenly to besiege 

Namur in force. In accordance with this design, he 
marched from Brussels to Rousselaer with 53,000 men. 
Thence he made a strong demonstration against Villeroi's 
camp near Ypres. Finding Villeroi in strength, William 
withdrew from the allied army, taking with him the main 
body of his cavalry, and leaving Charles Henry, Prince of 



1695. Capture of Naimir. 219 

Vaudemont, to command a force reduced to about 35,000. 
William reached the army of the allies, Avhich was com- 
manded by the Elector of Bavaria, and consisted of 
36,000 men, and marching eastward with these, effected a 
junction with the Brandenburgers (now Prussians) who 
were about 12,000 strong. The united army appeared 
before Namur. 

The garrison of Namur, consisting of 12,000 men. was 
commanded by Boufiflers. 

Villeroi, knowing how comparatively weak Vaudemont 
was, hoped to crush him easily ; but Vaude- 
mont retreated so speedily to Ghent that bombards 
Villeroi was unable to bring him to action. Brussels. 
Villeroi early in July took Dixmuide and Deynse, and 
then intended again to march against Vaudemont. But 
as Vaudemont had by this time marched eastwards 
from Ghent, Villeroi turned aside to bombard Brussels 
(August 11), and then set out to relieve Namur. Vau- 
demont had already joined William before Namur. 

Namur was closely invested by William, who during 
the month of July pressed on the siege, each 

■' ^ -^^ , , r^ William 

day gammg some fresh advantages. On captures 
August 4 the town surrendered, but the Namur. 
citadel (into which the garrison, reduced now to 7,000 
men, had retired) still held out. On August 30 the 
allies tried to carry the citadel by storm, but were repulsed 
with great loss. Villeroi, who had a,rrived near the invest- 
ing army, in vain sought to find some weak point through 
which he might pierce the line of the allies, and relieve 
the besieged. But William's position was too strong 
for him, and he was eventually compelled to withdraw. 
Boufflers, seeing the besiegers preparing to make 
another assault on the citadel, proposed (September 
i) to capitulate, and his proposal was accepted by Wil- 
liam. The loss of the garrison during the siege was 



220 The Fall of the Stuai'ts, &c. a.d. 

6,500, that of the besiegers no less than 9,000. With the 
capture of Namur the campaign of 1695 in the Nether- 
lands virtually came to an end. William returned to 
England, and about the same time Villeroi sent his army 
into winter quarters. 

Nothing of importance occurred this year on the Rhine. 
The Duke of Savoy had been secretly gained over by Lewis. 
Duke of Although still nominally a party to the Grand 

Savoy in se- Alliance, he had promised Lewis to do all he 

cret league ' ^ 

with Lewis. could in the councils of the allies to promote 
the wishes of the French king. In consideration of this, 
and to blind the eyes of William and the Emperor, 
Casale, in North Italy, after a mock siege, was surren- 
dered by the French to the Duke of Savoy. 

The campaign resulted in a great gain to the allies. 
Lewis's resources were still further weakened, and the 
French had no longer a superiority in generalship. More- 
over, the capture of Namur, following closely on that of 
Huy, made a great moral impression on Europe. Namur 
was the first of Lewis's conquests of which he had been 
deprived by force, and this seemed to make a turn in the 
tide. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE NEW PARLIAMENT. THE ASSASSINATION PLOT. 
THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR, 1 696. 

Section I. — The Sessioii of 1695- 1696. 

On October 11, 1695, Wilham dissolved Parliament, 
and summoned the new one to meet on November 22. 
When it assembled, it was proved that it contained 
a decided Whig majority. There were causes, partly 
political and partly social, for the change from a Tory 



1695. Nezv Parliame7it, 221 

majority to a Whig one. The pohtical causes were the 
dishke felt by the country to the continued whig 
factious opposition of the Jacobites, not only majority m 
to William, but also to English interests ; ment. 
and the feeling of insecurity provoked by the constant ap- 
prehension of plots and insurrections. The social causes 
were the high price of corn and the bad state of the 
coinage. At this time considerable distress was felt in 
England. From 1692 to 1699, a succession of bad seasons 
produced bad crops. These years were in the west of 
Europe known as the ' seven barren years.' For some 
years past the silver coinage of England had suffered con- 
tinual depreciation by the knavery of a gang of thieves 
known as ' clippers/ who had by various ingenious tricks 
diminished the weight of the coins by one half Those 
into whose hands good coins of full weight came, hoarded 
them, so that only the bad money was in circulation. It 
is stated that four millions of bad money were in use. The 
price of corn and all necessary articles of food and manu- 
facture seemed, therefore, still further artificially increased 
by the dearth of good money, and the depreciation of 
that which was in use. 

The session lasted until April 1696. The state of the 
coinage at once occupied the attention of Parliament. An 
act was passed calling in the ' clipped ' money, and raising 
1,200,000/. by a duty on houses to defray the New 
consequent loss. The act also announced coinage. 
that the depreciated coin would be received as payment 
of taxes. A new coinage was ordered to be struck, and in 
order that every possible care might be taken to insure 
that the new money should be of correct weight, the great 
mathematician, Sir Isaac Newton, was appointed master 
of the mint. 

An important bill, for regulating trials for treason, had 
been introduced into the House of Commons in the ses- 



222 The Fall of the Sttiarts, &c. A.D. 

sion of 1 690-1 ; but, on its being sent up to the Lords, a 
^ ^. , clause was introduced to which the Commons 

Treason Bill. , , ,,,.., 

would not assent, and the bill was conse- 
quently dropped. Though three attempts were made, the 
bill never passed the Lords during the continuance of the 
second Parliament. As it passed in the Commons, it was 
an additional safeguard to the liberties of Englishmen. It 
enacted (i.) That the accused, in trials for treason, should 
be furnished with a copy of his indictment at a small fee ; 
(2.) That he should be allowed counsel to defend him ; 
(3.) That no one should be indicted except on the oaths 
of two witnesses, and within three years of the alleged 
commitment of the offence ; (4,) That a list of the jury 
should be furnished to the accused ; (5.) That the accused 
should have the power of summoning witnesses. 
Treason Bill During the first session of this new Parlia- 

passed. ment the Treason Bill at length passed both 

Houses, and became law. 



Section IL — The Assassination Plot. 

The Jacobites had vainly solicited Lewis XIV. to send 

an army into England whilst William was absent in Holland 

in 1695, and their representations to the court of Versailles 

had been supported by Charnock, in whom 

Lewis again r- ^ ^ -^t i 

encourages Jamcs scems to havc confided. Now, how- 
thejacobites. ^^^^^ ^^^^ Namur had fallen, Lewis found 

himself reduced to desperate straits, and thought it 
advisable again to encourage conspirators. He was not 
averse to any means that would rid him of his enemy^ 
William of Orange. Two plots were accordingly matured, 
of both of which the courts of Versailles and St. Germains 
were cognisant. 

The one plot proposed an invasion of England, to 
follow a rising of the Jacobites. The Duke of Berwick, 



1696 Assassination Plot. 223 

an illegitimate son of James, was accordingly sent in dis- 
guise to England to make arrangements for Proposed 
the insurrection, and at the same time a large invasion, 
body of troops was collected at Calais, under the command 
of Boufflers, to cross the straits of Dover so soon as the 
Jacobites should have declared themselves. 

The other plot had for its object the assassination 
of King William. The carrying out of this plot was 
intrusted to Sir George Barclay, a Scotch follower of 
Dundee, and a bold and unscrupulous man. He obtained 
the assistance of Charnock, Fenwick, Parkyns, and of all 
those who had joined with Charnock in the preceding 
year. Numerous consultations took place, and at last a 
scheme of assassinating William on his return from 
hunting at Richmond was finally adopted. The day 
fixed for the deed was February 15 ; but Bentinck, Earl 
of Portland, the old and tried friend of William, had 
received information from one of the conspirators of 
the intended attempt, and had persuaded the king not 
to hunt on that day. The conspirators had assembled to 
the number of forty, and were in high spirits, for they 
thought they were sure of success, as they had managed 
to gain over by bribery some of the royal guards, when 
they were told that the hunt had been postponed to 
that day week, the 22nd. Portland, in the meantime, 
obtained further proof of the plot. Again the hunting 
party was countermanded, and the conspirators began 
to fancy they were discovered. Their uncertainty lasted 
but a short time, for before the end of the day many 
were arrested, Charnock and Parkyns amongst them, 

whilst a few, amongst whom were P^nwick Assassination 

and Barclay, escaped. Charnock immediately ^^°^ ^^'^^' 
offered to turn king's evidence. He said that if his 
punishment were commuted from death to imprisonment 
he would reveal the names of all those in England 



224 ^^^^ ^^^^ ^f ^^^ Stuarts, &c. a,D 

cognizant of either of the present plots, and also of past 
ones. William knew that the fortunes of his false and 
treacherous courtiers would be at his mercy, but mag- 
nanimously refused to hear Charnock's confessions. 

Most of those who were taken were convicted and 
executed. The failure of the Assassination Plot caused 
the postponement of the proposed Jacobite rising, and of 
the consequent invasion of England by French troops. 

Both Houses of Parliament received the intelligence 
of the Assassination Plot with horror and disgust. The 
Association plan of an ' Association ' was forthwith drawn 
the"deff>^nce ^P °^ paper. This * association for the de- 
of William. fencc of their sovereign and country,' bound 
the subscribers to defend William, to avenge his death 
if he were killed, and to support the order of succession 
framed by the Bill of Rights. Nearly all the members of 
both Houses signed this paper. Similar documents were 
distributed throughout the kingdom, and were signed by 
the greater number of the country gentry and men of 
influence. 

The formation of the Association not merely 
strengthened William's seat on the throne, 

Consequence "^ ■,■,■■ ^ • n ^ 

of the failure but also gavc additional influence to the 
of the plot. Whigs. The collapse of the plot, and the 
treachery of one or more of the conspirators, proved 
also to those Englishmen who were still inclined to 
intrigue with St. Germains, that but little reliance could 
be placed on the good faith or discretion of James and 
his advisers. Many, therefore, of those who were waver- 
ing in their allegiance to William, no longer opposed 
him. 

Section HI. — The Campaign of i6g6. 
The campaign of this year was rendered almost ridicu- 
lous by the paltry results gained by the large armies in the 



1696. Campaign of 1696. 225 

field. Lewis, prevented by the failure of the Assassination 
Plot from making- any direct attempt on England by inva- 
sion, was at the same time unwilling to risk 

, . . . 11 1 1 Inaction in 

his troops agamst the strong army collected by the Nether- 
the allies in the Netherlands, for William and ^^"'^^• 
Vaudemont had at least 250,000 men under their command. 
The French soldiers were not only inferior in numbers, 
but were also for the most part raw recruits, and were 
discontented, being in arrears of pay. Villeroi accordingly 
did nothing but watch William, who, on his side, was un- 
willing to risk in battle the advantages he saw that he must 
gain by merely compelling Lewis to keep large armies in 
the field, at a time when the French, both as regarded their 
finances and recruits, were in so exhausted a condition. 

The Duke of Savoy openly declared his desertion 
from the allies, and concluded (August 14) an offensive 
and defensive alliance with Lewis. Immediately joining 
his army to the French one, under Catinat, Neutrality 
he threatened Milan. In consequence of of ^^aiy. 
this an agreement was entered into between the allies 
on the one hand, and the Pope and the other Italian 
powers on the other hand, that the Italian peninsula 
should be deemed neutral. Lewis had therefore no 
longer to provide for the safety of his south-eastern 
frontier, and had the army of the Duke of Savoy at his 
disposal. 

Section IV. — The Session 1696-1697 of the Parliament. 

Sir John Fenwick had, after the discovery of the 
Assassination Plot, attempted to fly to France ; but, 
although for some time he continued to escape those 
who were seeking for him, he was eventually captured 
when in hiding at New Romney in Kent. The chief 
evidence implicating Fenwick had been given by Good- 
man and Porter ; but before Fenwick could be brought 
M.H. Q 



226 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.D. 

to trial, Goodman had been persuaded to leave England, 
so that now Porter was the only witness against him. 
Bill of attain As the Treason Act, passed in the last ses- 
sfr fohn"^'^ sioH, required two witnesses, it became im- 
Fenwick. possible to obtain a conviction in course of 

law. But Fenwick was personally so odious to William, on 
account of his behaviour to the late Queen Mar)^, that the 
ministers were pressed by the king to devise some means 
of punishing him. There was no moral doubt of Fen- 
wick's guilt, and there was direct proof that Lady Mary 
Fenwick (his wife) had tampered with Goodman and 
got him out of the kingdom. 

A bill of attainder against Sir John Fenwick w^as 
consequently brought into the Commons, so that the 
legal evidence could be supplied by the depositions pre- 
viously made by Goodman before the privy council, and 
by what he had sworn before the grand jury in the 
trial of the others concerned in the plot. The discussions 
which took place in the Commons were long and lively, 
and the motion for the bill was ultimately carried by a 
very small majority. In the Lords, it is doubtful if the 
bill would have been carried at all, had not Fenwick 
injudiciously offered to make disclosures of the intrigues 
of various English statesmen with James. Many Tories 
therefore, Marlborough amongst them, voted for the bill, 
in order that Fenwick's confession might be averted. 
The strong opposition to the bill, which provided for 
the punishment of a man obviously guilty, and which 
was wished for by the king, is a proof of the jealous and 
watchful care for the hberty of the subject now taken by 
the Parliament. 

Fenwick was, on January ii, 1697, 'convicted and 
Fenwick attainted of high treason, and condemned 

executed. to suffer the pains of death, and to incur all 
forfeitures, as a person in due course of law convicted of 
high treason.' On January 28 he was executed. 



1697. Peace of Ryswick. 227 

Another attempt was made this session to revive the 
licensing of the press. One of the newspapers estab- 
lished since the censorship of the press had been aban- 
doned (1695) had inserted a paragraph which was stated 
to call in question the credit of the exchequer Bill for 
bills issued by the Government. A bill was p'esT'S ^''^ 
therefore brought into Parliament to prevent jected. 
the publication of news without the authority of the 
secretary of state, but it was rejected. 

On April 16 William adjourned Parliament, and 
on the 26th sailed for Holland. Before his departure 
he created Somers a peer, and made him lord chancellor; 
Montague he made first lord of the treasury, and Russell 
was created Earl -of Orford. 



Section v. — Peace of Ryswick. 

The year 1697 broke with a gloomy outlook for all 
the warring nations, but most of all for France. 

The ' seven barren years ' were felt more in France 
than in England. Since 1692 the distress had increased 
yearly. The taxes failed to produce money Distress in 
enough to support the war, and yet many heads France, 
of families were unable to earn in the course of the year 
as much as they were expected to pay in taxes alone. 
The crops failed utterly. Absolute ruin stared Lewis in 
the face, and French financiers could devise no remedy. 
England and Holland also were not averse to peace, if 
only France was humbled, the pretensions of 

T • T -IT /-TIT T- England and 

Lewis to direct the policy 01 Western Europe Holland de- 
brought to an end, and the claims of the Stuarts ^^^^ peace, 
set at rest. English and Dutch commerce had suffered 
much from the depredations of French privateers, and 
England had besides its own currency troubles, and 
had also sufi"ered from a partial failure of the crops. 

Q2 



228 The Fall of the Stuarts, &c. a.D. 

The health of the King of wSpain was becoming worse. 
Spanish sue- If he were to die, the succession to the throne 
cession. wouM be disputed, andWilham felt sure that 

fresh complications would arise which would endanger the 
alliance. He therefore thought the present a good oppor- 
tunity to propose preliminaries of peace. 

The Emperor was not so desirous or willing, but he 
was informed that if he would not consent to discuss 
])reliminaries, England and Holland would conclude 
a peace with France on their own account. He therefore 
agreed to send plenipotentiaries to Ryswick, a village in 
Holland, between the Hague and Delft, where WiUiam 
„, . had a palace. A congress met there on May 

Plenipoten- ^ . 

tiaries meet 9 at which wero present accredited agents 
yswic . fj-Qj^ ^j2 ^j^g allies, and from Lewis and the 
Duke of Saxony. For weeks the congress discussed 
matters, but could arrive at no satisfactory conclusions. 

Near Brussels the English and French armies faced 
each other. Bentinck, Lord Portland, was with the Eng- 
Boufflersand lish army; Boufflers commanded the French. 
Bentinck William proDosed that these two should meet, 

agree on r r _ ' 

terms. and scc if they could not agree to some basis 

on which treaties could be arranged. Lewis consented, 
and after six meetings the chief points of the negotiation 
were settled and written out. 

On September 20 three several treaties were made, 
between France on the one hand, and England, 
Holland, and Spain on the other. 

The treaty with Great Britain provided that both 
France and England should restore the conquests they 
Treaty had respectively made in America; that Lewis 

between should uo longer foster intrigues in Eng- 

France and ° 

England. land, and that William should not encourage 

French Protestants in rebellion ; and that Lewis should 
recognise William HI. as lawful king of Great Britain 



1697. Peace of Ryswick. 229 

and Ireland, and should no longer afford any assistance 
to James Stuart. By the treaty with Holland, Treaty 
France gave the Dutch certain commercial pfa^^g^^j^^j 
advantages, and received back from them Holland, 
Pondicherry, in India, which they had con- France and" 
quered. By the treaty with Spain, Lewis re- Spam. 
stored all conquests in Catalonia, and all those places in the 
Spanish Netherlands taken by him in the war, and those 
which the ' chambers of reunion ' had granted him since 
the peace of Nimwegen. The Emperor still held aloof. 
A special article had been inserted in the treaties already 
signed, that the month of October should be allowed to 
the Emperor and the princes of the empire to come to a 
decision. On October 30 the plenipotentiaries of the 
Emperor signed a treaty with Lewis. By this treaty 
Lewis restored all the provinces and towns Treaty 
which he had taken by decrees of the ' cham- pv^ncrand 
bers of reunion,' except Elsass (Alsace), which Germany. 
now became a French province. Lothringen (Lor- 
raine) was again restored to its duke. Lewis inserted 
one clause, viz., 'that the Roman Catholic religion should 
remain in the places restored on the same footing as it 
then was.' This clause has been, and still is, productive 
of much social dissension among Germans. Had the 
Emperor been less backward in concluding the treaty, 
he would have obtained more advantageous terms, but 
Lewis having already made sure of peace with England, 
Holland, and Spain, was able to hold out more firmly 
against the demands of the Emperor, and to insist on the 
retention of Elsass (Alsace). 

The results of the treaty of Ryswick may appear 
small as far as territorial changes are con- _ 

• 1 T -I- , 1 1 Results of 

sidered. France, however, now lost ground, the peace of 
She was again forced to confine herself, with Ryswick, 
one exception (Elsass), to the limits set down for her 



230 The Fall of the Stuarts^ &c. a.D. 

at the peace of Nimwegen (1678). But the great 
result was that England formed in Western Europe 
the counterpoise which preserved the balance of power. 
The alliance of England was henceforth sought by 
(j \ jQ any state suffering from the encroachments 

Europe. of France, and for one hundred and fifty 

years it continued to be the policy of England to ally 
herself with those nations opposed to France. A 
second, though temporary, result was that Europe 
now had some breathing time to prepare for what 
William knew was imminent, the general struggle which 
must take place at the death of the childless King of Spain, 
and the consequent breaking up of the great Spanish 
dominions. 

The result of the treaty of Ryswick to Great Britain 
was much more advantageous than it at first appeared. 
(2.) to By acknowledging William as king of Eng- 

Engiand. land, and giving up the House of Stuart, 
Lewis practically relieved England from all fears of 
invasion, and of losing its independence. ' For,' says a 
great modern historian, ' that danger which has sometimes 
been in our countrymen's mouths, with little meaning, of 
becoming a province to France, was then close and 
actual ; for I hold the restoration of the House of Stuart 
to be but another expression for that ignominy and servi- 
tude.' 

What was the result of the nine years' fighting as 
regards France ? On the one hand a slight territorial 
gain, which has caused a constant irritation between her 
/, \ to and Germany ; on the other hand the people 

France. ^^^1 become impoverished, and in conse- 

quence oppressed by nobles and tax-gatherers ; the love 
of war and of glory was engendered amongst the soldiers, 
forming them into a distinct class, with few feelings in 
common with the nation ; a desire had arisen amongst 



1697. Peace of Ryswick. 231 

all Frenchmen for increase of territory ; and there had 
been a loosening of all the ties which unite society to- 
gether. Many of the horrors of the French Revolution, 
and the sufferings of France in the present century, may 
be directly traced to the pernicious policy of Lewis XIV. 
and his courtiers. 

England had made great strides since the accession 
of Charles II. Her exports had wonderfully increased. 
The North American Colonies and West Indies had 
opened great fields for trade. Her connection with Hol- 
land under William III. had widened her commercial 
dealings. The Huguenot refugees had become some of 
her most industrious citizens. The war which had ruined 
France had not really impoverished England. The 
money expended in it was being returned with large in- 
terest by the increase of trade, caused in great part by 
the high position which England now occupied among 
European states, and the advantages he was able to 
secure for her commerce through this position. 

And for these substantial results England is indebted 
to William III. His patient industry, his far-seeing 
policy, and his constancy in struggling against the for- 
tune of war, were the means not only of raising England 
to a position equal to that of France in the consideration 
of European Powers, but were also the means of rousing 
again in the hearts of Englishmen patriotism, enterprise, 
and self-reliance. Notwithstanding his foreign habits, 
his faults of manner, and his predilection for his Dutch 
friends, the majority of Englishmen had learnt, at the 
close of the seventeenth century, not only to respect but 
also to love the trustworthy Hollander, William of 
Orange, whom they had chosen for their king, in place 
of the false Stuart. 



232 The Fall of the Stiiai'ts^ &c. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Literature and Science in England and Frajice in the 
latter part of the Seventeenth Century. 

The Renaissance, or revival of learning and art, had, 
in Italy, France, and Germany, sent men back to the 
study of the great writers of antiquity. Classical authors 
were esteemed with an almost superstitious veneration, 
but the result nevertheless was that men^s intellects were 
made active, and the way was cleared for the advent of 
the great religious revolution, the Protestant Reformation. 
^cc f.u With the Reformation arrived a further increase 

Effect of the 

Reformation of intellectual activity. Men set themselves 
and Htera- not Only to work out tlicological problems, 
ture. 1^^^ ^^gQ ^Q prosecute scientific investigations. 

Freedom of thought came, and the chains which had 
bound students to their classical models were forthwith 
cast off. 

In England the Renaissance had not preceded the 
Reformation. The wars of York and Lancaster, and the 
unsettled succession to the throne, had hitherto kept 
England in intellectual darkness. Bright lights, such as 
Chaucer (i 328-1400), here and there pierced the darkness, 
but it was the Reformation which, in England, caused 
the revivalof the study of Greek and Hebrew, and which, 
with more rapid steps than on the Continent, led to 
original thought and original research. 

The first half of the seventeenth century, which was 
rendered famous in England by our great philosopher, 
Bacon (i 561 -1626), was made no less so in France by his 
followers, the illustrious philosophers and mathematicians, 
Descartes (i 596-1650) and Pascal (1623- 1662). 

But when the despotic power of Lewis XIV. came to 



LiteraUire and Science. 233 

its height, then freedom of thought vanished in France. 
Lewis could not brook originahty. He desired ^f^gct of the 
that his subjects should not only do as he patronage of 
ordered them, but that they should also be- 
lieve as he told them, and think as he wished them. 
He adopted therefore the plan of patronising men of 
genius ; that is to say, of making them mean-spirited and 
venal, ' utterly unfit to fulfil their great vocation as the 
apostles of knowledge and the missionarie:. of truth.' The 
result was that originality was crushed. 

The great authors, philosophers, artists, and architects 
whose writings and works are said to grace the age of 
Lewis XIV., produced their best before the so-called 
patronage of the king had time to show its effects. 
Year after year during his reign authors exhibited less 
power, and more and more imitated classical models. 
They feared to be original. Originality meant indepen- 
dence of thought, and they knew that Lewis hated inde- 
pendence. Their writings were indeed marked by the 
utmost polish and by that refined wit for which French 
writers are conspicuous, but they were artificial. Racine 
(1639-1699), Moli^re (1622-1673), Boileau (1636-17 11), and 
La Fontaine (1621-1695), showed one and all that their 
great natural powers were enfeebled by the enervating 
influence of patronage. Patronage was under Lewis made 
to play the same part in literature and art that bribery did 
in politics. 

Freedom of thought, the offspring of the Reformation, 
which had taken firm root in the English character, and 
which had already produced Spenser, Bacon, Shakespeare 
and Milton, might have been stifled, as it was in France, 
if Charles II. could have succeeded in throwing over lite- 
rature the mantle of his patronage. Following the ex- 
ample of his patron and adviser, Lewis, Charles began 
his reign by patronising science. Lewis had built the 



234 The Fall of the Stuarts , &c. 

Observatory at Paris, Charles founded the Royal Society 
Charles (1662), When first incorporated, this Society, 

begins to which has done such noble work in encourag- 

patronise . • • 1 i 1 i r • ^ 

science by mg Original research, bade lair to become a 
RoyS"" '^^ fashionable toy. But Charles had neither the 
Society. inclination to amuse himself with scientific 

playthings nor the money to spend in patronising men of 
science. Therefore the Society flourished on its merit, 
and therefore it may boast of having on its roll of Fellows 
at this time four of the greatest scientific men Europe 
has ever known : Newton (1642-1727), the mathematician; 
Boyle (1627-1690), the chemist ; Ray (1628-1705), the 
zoologist and botanist; and Sydenham (i 624-1689) the 
physician. 

The vigorous activity of the intellectual life in England 
Charles's produced by freedom of thought was displayed 

patronage no less in theology than in science. Charles 

C63.S6S 

had no religious feelings and no religious 
belief. On his death-bed he became a papist. James 
was an open papist. Under neither king were writers 

who made a philosophic studv of theology 

Worlcs ' 

produced in hkely to be patronized. The Cambridge 
Skff Platonists therefore. More (1614-1687), Cud- 

patronage, worth (161 7- 1687), and Culverwell, who sowed 
the seed which eventually ripened into broader and nobler 
ideas of religious liberty and religious tolerance, were 
inspired solely by their love of truth and received no 
church or political preferment, while Bunyan (1628-1688), 
under the fire of persecution and not under the patronage 
of court and fashion, produced his immortal allegory. 

What England escaped from, had its two last Stuart 
kings taken men of learning under their protection, may 
be gathered from the example of Dryden. 

Dryden (1631-1700) was patronized by James II. 
Under his protection he became a convert to Romanism. 



Literature m England and France. 235 

Of enormous natural gifts, with a pregnant fancy and a 
trenchant wit, he advocated at various times 

1 n r 1 • • 1 - Dryden 

opposite causes, at the caU of his mterest, his a victim to 
patron or his party. He, of course, followed Patronage. 
classical models in his writings, and is worthy to rank 
with his French brethren in literature. 

Historians have been accustomed to write of the age 
of Lewis XIV. as that in which France was filled with a 
galaxy of talent never surpassed in the history of man- 
kind, if indeed it was ever equalled. The reign of 
Lewis XIV. lasted for 72 years, until the year 171 5, but 
in that part of it treated of in this work, France had 
fallen from her high intellectual estate, not for many 
years to recover it again. England, on the other hand, 
has made the world its debtor for its great work at this 
time in science and philosophy ; and humanity at large 
owes gratitude to the patient and consistent English 
thinkers who proved that the religious and political 
liberty now being established in their country was con- 
sistent with and resulted from the free exercise of reason 
and of thought. 



INDEX. 



ABH 

ABHORRERS, 33, 42 
Abjuration, Bill of, 170 
Act of Attainder (Irish), 163 
Act of Grace, 170 
Addressers, 33 
Alliance, Grand, 167, 168 
Alsace, see Elsass 

Anne, Princess, 63, 134, 137, 214, 215 
Appropriation of Supplies, 153 
Argj'le. Earl of, 51, 52, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 

89 
Arundel, Lord, 78 
Assassination Plot, 58— Against William, 

223 _ 
Association, 224 
Athlone, 183, 185 
Aughrim, 185, 186 
Augsburg, League of, loi 
Ayliffe, 86, 88, 89 

BACON, 232, 233 
Baker, Major, 162 
Balance of Power, 2, 230 
Bank of England, 210 
Barclay, Sir G., 223 
Barillon, 15, 40, 65, 78, 79, no, 115, 137, 

142 
Baxter, 83 

Bentinck, Earl of Portland, 223, 228 
Berlin, 75 

Berwick, Duke of, 223 
Besangon, 67 
Bill of Rights, 155 
Boileau, 233 
Bossuet, Bishop, 67, 75 
Bothwell Brigg, 38 
Boufflers, Marshal, 201, 228 
Boyle, 234 

Boyne, Battle of, 173, 174, 175 
Breadalbane, Lord, 188, 191 
Breisach, 67 
Bridgewater, 93, 94 
Bristol, 93 

Browning, Captain, i66 
Brussels, 219 
Bunyan, 234 
Burnet, Bishop, 116 



DAN 

CABINET, 28 
Caen, 75 
Cameron, 49 
Cameronians, 49, 50 
Campbell, Captain, 190 
Campbell, Clan of, 89 
Cargill, 49 

Carmarthen, Marquis of, see Danby 
Carmichael, 37 
Castlemaine, Lord, 78, 102 
Catinat, General, 182, 225 
Cavendish, Lord, 60 
Charleroi, 205 

Charles II., King of England, 3, 26, 32, 
^ 42, 43, 44. 54, 63, 64, 65, 66, 233 
Charles II., King of Spain, 3, 17 
Charnock, 217, 223 
Chaucer, 232 

Churchill, see Marlborough 
Civil List, 169 

Clarendon, Earl of, 97, 102, 113, 114 
Claverhouse, 38, 39, 80, 145, 157, 158 
Code Noir, 10 
Cohorn, 198 
Coinage, 221 
Colbert, 7, 72, 73 
Coleman, 21, 24 
College, Stephen, 47 
Collins, Mrs., 34 
Cologne, see Kohi 
Comprehension Bill, 152 
Compton, Bishop of London, 104, 123,129 
Confederacy, 57 
Conventiclers, 35, 37, 38, 39 
Convention, 141, 142, 143 
Cork, 181 

Cornbury, Lord, 134 
Corporations, Attack on, 56 
Courtrai, 70 
Cudworth, 234 
Culverwell, 234 

DALRYMPLE, Sir J., 159, 188, 189, 
191 
Danby, Earl of (afterwards Marquis of 
Carmarthen and Duke of Leeds), 19, 
25, 29. 117, 123, 132, 150, 171, 213 



23S 



Index. 



\ 



DAN 



Dangerfield, 34, 82 

Dartmouth, Lord, 58, 131, 137 

Declaration of French Clergy, 69 

Declaration of Indulgence, 105, 119 

Declaration of Rights, 143, 155 

Descartes, 232 

Deux Fonts, see Zweibriicken 

Devonshire, Earl of, 123, 132 

Diet, 148 

Dispensing Power, 102, 103 

Dixmuide, 70 

Dover, Lord, 78 

Dragonnades, 75 

Druiiiclog, 38 

Dryden, 20, 234 

Dublin, 178 

Dumont, 216 

Dundee, Viscount, see Claverhouse 

Duquesne, 75 

Dykvelt, 116, 117, 123 

ECCLESIASTICAL Commission, 
104, 129 
Elector'Palatine, 68, 100 
Elsass, 67, 68, 229 
England after the Peace, 231 
Enniskillen, 146, 166 
Episcopacy in Scotland, 35 
Essex, Earl of, 28, 32, 42, 57, 60 
Estates, Scotch, 79, 145 
Evertsen, Admiral, 176 
Exclusion Bill, 30, 41 

FARMER, 108 
Fenwick, Sir J., 217, 225 
Fergusson, 86, 91 
Feversham, Lord, 94, 96, 97 ,133, 139, 

140 
Fletcher, 86 
Fleurus, 182 
France, i, 4, 229 
Franche Comte, 5, 67 
Francis, 82, 83 
Francis, Father, 107 
Fuller, 216 

GABELLE, TO 
Gal way, 186 
George of Denmark, Prince, 64, 136, 

215 
Germany, 2, 16, 229^ 
Ginkell, General, 183, 185, 186, 187 
Glencoe, 188, 189, 190 
Godfre)', Sir E., 22, 23 
Godolphin, Earl of, 32 



LAK 



Goodman, 217, 225 

Gordon, Duke of, 145 

Graham, see Claverhouse 

Grandval, 216, 217 

Grey, Lord, 57, 59, 91, 92, 94, 95 

Guilds, 9 

HABEAS Corpus Act, 30 
Hackstone, 50 
Hales, Sir E., 103, 137, 138 
Halifax, Viscount, 28, 32, 65, 78, 98, 100, 

117, 139, 140, 150, 171 
Hamilton, Duke of, 145 
Hamilton, General, 161, 162 
Hampden, 57, 59, 62 
Hague, Congress at the, 192 
Heidelberg, 148 
Henry IV. of France, 71 
Herbert, Admiral, 123, 132, 150, 162, 

176, 177 
Highlanders, 156, 157 
Holland, 4, 14, 83, 229 
Holloway, Judge, 122, 125 
Hough, Doctor, 108 

Hounslow Heath, 102, 109, 122, 125 
Howard, Lord, 57. 59, 60 
Huguenots, 71 
Huy, 207 

T NDEMNITY, Bill of, 155 
X Innocent XII., Pope, 206 
Ireland, no, in, 112, 114, 146, 159, 182 

JAMES, Duke of York (afterwards 
• James II.), 18, 33, 39, 40, 50, 51,52, 
53, 54, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 81, loi, 102, 
103, 112, 119, 120, 125, 126, 12S, 156, 
137, 138, 139, 141, 149, 159, 173, 174, 

177, 196, 197, 210, 234 

Jeffreys, Judge, 56, 60, 83, 97, 103, 138 
Jesuits, 69, 105 
Johnson, Samuel, 105 
Junto, 209 

KEELING, 58, 59 
Ker, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 
120 
Killiecrankie, 157, 158 
King, Doctor, 65 
Kinsale, 181 

Klrke, Colonel, 94, 96, 135, 164 
Koln, Archbishopric of, 126, 127 

LA FONTAINE, 233 
La Hogue, 196, 197 
Lake, Bishop of Chichester, 120 



Index. 



239 



LAN 

Laiiden, see Neerwinden 

Lanquedoc, Canal of, 10 

Lauderdale, Duke of, 36 

Lauzun, Count of, 173, 178 

Leeds, Duke of, see Danby 

Leopold, Emperor, 3, 16, 126, 127, 167 

Lewis XIV., 3, 5, 32, 44, 53, 67, 68, 69, 

70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 79, 101, 115, 127, 

147, 160, 167, 173, 193, igSj 2QO, 216, 

229, 232, 233 
Liefdale, 216 
Limerick, 178, 186, 187 
Lindsay, Lady S., 52 
Lisle, Lady Alice, 97 
Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph, 120 
Londonderry, 146, 161, 163, 164, 166 
Long\yy, 5 

Lothringen (Lorraine), 5, 229 
Louvois, 7, 73, 75, 168, 195, 216 
Lumley, Lord, 93, 123 . 
Lundy, 161 
Luxembourg, Duke of, 181,182, 193, 198, 

199, 219 
Luxemburg, 69, 70 

TVyTACDONALDS of Glencoe, 189, 

Mackay. General, 157, 158, 159 

Maestricht, 4 

Magdalen College, Oxford, 108, 129 

Maintenon, Madame de, 72, 73 

Mansel, Colonel, 34 

Maria Theresa, queen of Lewis XIV., 73 

Marlborough, Lord, afterwards Earl and 

Duke of, 54, 79, 93, 117, 134, 135, 171, 

180, 181, 207, 214, 215 
Marlborough, Lady, 134, 137, 214, 215 
Mary of Modena, queen of James II., 

18, 75, 118, 138, 149 
Mary, Princess, afterwards Queen, 14, 

145 150, 212 
IMassaglia, 206 
Ivlassey, 107 
Maumont, General, 162 
Meal-tub Plot, 34 
Metayers, 11 
Metz, 67 

Middleton, Lord, 36 
Mitchell, 36 
IVIoliere, 233 
Monmouth, Duke of, 27, 32, 38, 41, 55, 

57, 62, 84, 85, 89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96 
Monopolies, 12 
Mons, 193 

Montague, Ralph, 25 
Montague, ijecretarj', 209 



RIG 

Montrose, Marquis of, 52 
More, 234 
Mutiny Bill, 154 

NAMUR, 198, 219 
Nancy, 5 
Nantes, Edict of, 71, 74, 75 
National Debt, 209 
Neerwinden, 203, 204 
Netherlands, Defences of, 183 
Newton, Sir Isaac, 221, 234 
Newtown Butler, 166 
Nimwegen, Peace of, 4, 67, 68 
Non-jurors, 151, 152 
North, Judge, 48, 55 
Nottingham, Lord, 150, 171 

OATES, Titus, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 82 
Orkney, Bishop of, 36 
Ormond, Duke of, 113, 136 
Osborne, Earl of Danby, see Danby 
Oxford Parliament, 44 

PALATINATE, 147, 148 
Papin, 75 
Papists, Bill against, 23 
Parker, Bishop of Oxford, 107, 108 
Parkyns, Sir W. , 217, 223 
Parliaments, French, 13, 67 
Pascal, 232 
Pechell, Doctor, 107 
Pemberton, Judge, 48 
Penn, William, 108, 109 
Pension Parliament, 26 
Petre, Father, 78, 102, 103, 109, 129, 138 
Place Bill, 210 
Platonists, Cambridge, 234 
Plunket, Archbishop, 45, 46 
Popish Plot, 20 
Porter, 217, 225 
Powell, Judge, 122, 125 
Powys, Lady, 35 
Powys, Lord, 78 
Presbyterians, 36 
Press, Censorship of, 212, 227 
Pyrenees, Treaty of, 68 

RABBLING, 146 
Racine, 233 
Rapin, 75 
Ray, 234 
Regale, 69 

Regensburg (Ratisbon), Treaty of, 70 
Reunion, C chambers of, 67 
Rights, Bill of, 155 
Rights, Declaration of, 143, 155 



J40 



Index, 



RIQ 

Riquet, Pierre Paul de, lo 

Rochester, Earl of, 32, 42, 102, 114 

Rooke, Admiral, 206 

Royal Society, 234 

Rumbold, 86, 88, 89 

Russell, Edward, 123, 196, 197, 209, 227 

Russell, Lord, 57, 59, 60 

Ruvigny, de, 75 

Rj'e House Plot, 57, 58, 59, 63 

Rysvvick, Treaty of, 228, 229 



s 



T. RUTH, General, 182, 183, 185, 



Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, 120, 

136, 139. 151 
Sanquhar, 49 

Sarsfield, Patrick, 179, 186 
Savoy, Duke of, 201 
Schomberg, Marshal, 75, 171, 172, 174, 

175 
Scotland, 35, 37, 38, 49, 50, 144, 156, 168 
Scroggs, Chief Justice, 25, 42 
Sedgemoor, 93, 94, 95, 96 
Sevigne, Madame de, 75 
Shaftesbury, Earl of, 19, 20, 33, 42, 48, 

55 
Shales, Colonel, 172 
Sharp, Archbishop of St. Andrew's, 36, 

37. 
Sheriffs, 55 
Shrewsbury, Earl, afterwards Duke of, 

123, 150, 170, 209 
Sidney, Algernon, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62 
Sidney, Henry, 123 
Somers, 143, 151, 209 
Spain, 17, 207 
Stafford, Viscount, 42, 43 
Steinkirk, 199, 200 
Strasburg, 68 
Sunderland, Earl of, 28, loi, 129, 138, 

203 
Sweden, King of, 68 
Sydenham, 234 

nPANGIER, 63 

JL Tankerville, Earl of, see Lord 
Grey 
Tarbet, 89 
Taunton, 92, 97 
Temple, Sir W., 4, 27, 32 
Test Act, English, 97, 98, 99 
Test Act, Scotch, 51 
Thirty Years' War, 2 
Titus, Doctor, 125 



ZWE 

Toleration Bill, 153 

Tories, 33 

Torrington, Lord, see Herbert 

Toul, 67 

Tours, 75 

Tourville, Count of, 176, 177, 196, 197, 

206 
Treason Bill, 223 

Trelawney, Bishop of Bristol, 120, 121 
Triennial Bill, 211 
Trier (Treves) 68, 70 
Trimmers, 29 
Turkey, 70 

Turner, Bishop of Ely, 120 
Tyrconnel, Earl of, 78, 113, 114, 115, 

159, 178, 182, 186 

T TNIVERSITIES, 106, 107, 108 

VAUBAN, 7, 147, 198 
Vaudemont, 219, 225 
Verdun, 67 
Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, 167, 

220, 225 
Vienna, 70 

Villeroi, Marshal, 218, 219 
Voltaire, 148 
Von Rosen, 160, 166 

WAKEMAN, 21, 3t 
Waldeck, Prince of, i8r, 182, 194 

Walker, afterwards Bishop of London- 
derry, 161, 162, 173, 175 

Wars, I 

Waterford, 178 

Westphalia, Peace of, 67, 68 

Wharton, Thomas, 209 

Whigs, 33 . 

White, Bishop of Peterborough, 120 

William of Orange, afterwards William 
IIL, 3. 14, 15, 53, 84, 85, 89, 99, 100, 
loi, 116, 127, 128, 131, 132, 139, 140, 
143, 145, 149, 150, 151, 167, 168, 172, 
173, 174, 175, 178, 179, 180, 192, 194, 
199, 201, 202, 203, 205, 207, 208, 219, 
225, 227, 231 

Winchelsea, Earl of, 139 

Wolseley, Colonel, 166 

Wurtemberg, Duke of, 68, 202 

ZULESTEIN, 117, 140 
Zweibriicken (Deux Ponts), 68 



MODERN HISTORICAL HANDBOOKS. 

In course of publication, each volu?ne in fcp. Svo. 
complete in itself. 

Epochs of Modern History : 

A SERIES OF BOOKS NARRATING THE 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND AND EUROPE 

At Successive Epochs subsequent to the 
Christian Era. 

EDITED BY 

ED^WARD E. MORRIS, M.A. 

Of Lincoln College, Oxford ; Head Master of the Melbourne 
Grammar School, Australia ; 



J. SURTEES PHILLPOTTS, B.C.L. 

Late Fellow of New College, Oxford; Head Master of the Bedford 
Grammar School ; 



C. OOLBECK, M.A. 

Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge ; Assistant Master on the Modern 
Side at Harrow School. 



THE SERIES entitled 'Epochs of Modern History' had its- 
origin in the conviction that, for purposes of Education or Study, a 
complete picture of any one important period of the World's history, care- 
fully prepared and in an inexpensive form, is of more value than a mere 
outline of the History of a Nation. 
M. H. R 



Epochs of Modern History. 



The difficulty in applying this idea to books of history is the risk of 
spoiling the interest by diminishing the detail. But it is generally allowed 
that the complete picture of any short period is of more value, in an educa- 
tional point of view, than a mere outline of the history of a nation ; and the 
practice dictated by the course of many public examinations, of reading 
periods of history, seems to suggest a way in which it may be possible to 
secure in handy and cheap volumes that fulness without which history is 
unprofitable. 

For schools the study of elaborate history is, and must remain, an im- 
possibility ; and generally, it may be safely said that in school routine time 
cannot be found for going through the complete continuous history of more 
than one or two countries at most. But it is not possible to understand 
thoroughly the history of even one country, if it be studied alone. A 
knowledge of the condition of surrounding countries is of at least equal 
importance wilh its own previous history. This is, so to speak, a horizontal 
rather than a vertical study of history. 

It is hoped, therefore, that this series of books relating to definite periods 
of history, may meet a want which cannot be met by continuous histories of 
any one country. The series is by no means confined to the history of 
England, but deals also with European history : and where the course of 
events in England gives to the epoch its name and character, care has been 
and will be taken to trace the connexion of English history with that of the 
continental nations, and with the progress of ideas at work among them. 

Great as the improvement has been in the histories prepared of late years 
for the use of schools, manuals thoroughly adapted for boys and girls are still 
required. The memories of the young cannot retain mere names, or retain them 
only at the cost of efforts which weaken their powers in other directions. In 
school histories no reference should be made to events of which some clear idea 
cannot be laid before the reader, and no names mentioned of actors in the 
history unless enough can be saiJ to exhibit them as living men. To this 
rule the contributors to the present series will, so far as practicable, strictly 
adhere. 

In short, it is their object, not to recount all the events of any given 
epoch, but to bring out in the clearest light those incidents and features on 
which the mind of the young most readily fastens. 

Special attention is paid to those characteristics which exhibit the life of 
a people as well as the policy of their rulers. 

With each volqme is given a Map or Maps, illustrative of the period of 
which it treats ; a Chronological Analysis, shewing the relation of English 
and foreign events ; and an Index for reference. Foot-notes are avoided as 
tending to interrupt the reader's interest in the narrative. To bring out the 
sequence of events a full Marginal Analysis is supplied throughout. 



Epochs of Modern History. 



Eight Volumes now published : — 

The ERA of the PROTESTANT REVO- 
LUTION. By F. Seebohm, Author of the ' Oxford Reformers— 
Colet, Erasmus, More.' With 4 Coloured Maps and 12 Diagrams 
on Wood. Price 2s. 6(f. 

The CRUSADES. By the Rev. G. W. Cox, M.A. 

late Scholar of Trinity College, Oxford ; Author of the ' Aryan 
Mythology ' &c. With a Coloured Map. Price zs. 6d. 

The THIRTY YEARS' WAR, 1618-1648. 

By Samuel Rawson Gardiner, late Student of Ch. Ch. Author 
of ' History of England from the Accession of James I. to the 
Disgrace of Chief Justice Coke' &c. With a Coloured Map. 
Price 2S. 6d. 

The HOUSES of LANCASTER and YORK; 

with the CONQUEST and LOSS of FRANCE. By James 
Gairdner, of the Public Record Office, Editor of 'The Paston 
Letters ' &c. With 5 Coloured Maps. Price 2s. 6d. 

ED^A/ARD the THIRD. By the Rev. W. War- 

BURTON, M.A. late Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford; Her 
Majesty's Senior Inspector of Schools. With 3 Coloured Maps and 
2 Genealogical Tables. Price 2s. 6d. 

The AGE of ELIZABETH. By the Rev. M. 

Creighton, M.A. late Fellow and Tutor of Merton College, Oxford. 
With 5 Maps and 4 Genealogical Tables. Price 2s. 6d. 

The FALL of the STUARTS; and WEST- 
ERN EUROPE from 1678 to 1697. By the Rev. Edward 
Hale, M.A. Assistant Master at Eton. With Maps. Price 2J. 6d. 

The PURITAN REVOLUTION. By Samuel 

Rawson Gardiner, late Student of Ch. Ch. Author of 'The 
Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648,' in the same Series. With Maps. 
Price 2s. 6d. 

From the Athen^um, May 8, 1875. 

* The value of a set of little books on different epochs of history will 

probably be appreciated more as time goes on. At present the idea is a 

new one, and the work before us is only the fifth volume that has appeared. 

The design of the whole series is, however, one that must recommend itself 



Epochs of Modern .'listory. 



more and more to the public as the true principles of historical study 
become better understood ; for there is no one, however carefully he may 
have examined, either from original or secondary sources, one or two 
leading subjects in history, who does not feel that he requires the help of 
some popular hand-book— some judiciously compressed abstract — to realise 
the main features of different epochs, and to understand their bearings on 
each other. It was, moreover, high time that even popular handbooks 
should rise above the narrow notion, that the history of one country or 
nation is to be treated entirely by itself. The study of an epoch necessarily 
implies a more or less complete view of the whole civilised world at the 
time : and, in realising this, we gain an insight into causes which act and 
re-act on the lives of nations far down the ages, even to the days in which 
we live.' 

Volumes, in continuation of tiie Series, in various 

stages of preparation : — 

The NORMANS in EUROPE. By Rev. A. H. 

Johnson, M.A. Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford. 

FREDERICK the GREAT and the SEVEN 

YEARS' WAR. By F. W. Longman, of Balliol College, Oxford. 

The AGE of ANNE. By E. E. Morris, M.A. 

original Editor of the Series. 

The FRENCH REVOLUTION to the 

BATTLE of WATERLOO, 1789-1815. By B. Meriton Cordery, 
Author of ' King and Commonwealth.' 

The AVAR of AMERICAN INDEPEN- 
DENCE. By J. M. Ludlow, Barrister-at-Law ; Author of ' A 
Sketch of the History of the United States from Independence to 
Secession ' &c. 

The BEGINNING of the MIDDLE AGES; 

Charles the Great and Alfred ; the History of England in its con- 
nexion with that of Europe in the Ninth Century. By the Very 
Rev. R. W. Church, M.A. Dean of St. Paul's. 

The EARLY PLANT AGENETS and their 

RELATION to the HISTORY of EUROPE ; the foundation 
and growth of Constitutional Government. By the Rev. W. 
Stubbs, M.A. Professor of Modern History in the University of 
Oxford. 

London, LONGMANS & CO. 



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